Confusion, Anger Over Brooklyn Cop Killing of Unarmed Black Man

Pictured: Delrawn Small. Image via GoFundMe

EAST NEW YORK, BROOKLYN — One day after an unnamed, off-duty New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer shot and killed 37-year-old Delrawn Small at a traffic light in East New York, police had not released any new information about the shooting, despite an outpouring of confusion and anger from loved ones and local activists.

According to the NYPD, the officer and Small — whose name was previously reported by police as Delron Dempsey — both stopped their vehicles near the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Bradford Street at around 12 a.m. on the morning of July 4.

They were then involved in a "traffic dispute," police said.

The NYPD claimed that Small "exited his car and approached the off-duty officer, who was still seated in his vehicle, and began to punch him repeatedly in the head through the car window."

In response, the officer "discharged his firearm during the assault," police said.

Small was pronounced dead at the scene, police said, while the officer was transported to Jamaica Medical Center with minor head injuries.

Small's relatives told multiple media outlets that at the time of the shooting, a woman — either Small's wife or his girlfriend — and several of his kids were in the car.

Want more neighborhood news? Sign up for free newsletters and news alerts from your local Patch.

The police narrative is that the officer stayed in his vehicle. But a local minister named Isaac Mickens told Patch on Monday that three witnesses he spoke to at the scene said both the officer and Small exited their vehicles before Small was shot dead.

A man named Lloyd Banks, identified as a friend of Small's, told the New York Daily News the same thing.

As of Tuesday evening, the NYPD was still refusing to name the officer who shot Small. The department's press office also refused to provide information on the number of shots fired, on the officer's disciplinary history or on Small's arrest record.

The Daily News, however, reported that Small had 19 prior arrests, and identified the officer involved in the shooting as Wayne Isaacs, 37.

Surveillance video from businesses located near Atlantic and Bradford could be key to sorting out the events leading up to Small's killing.

Patch observed multiple security cameras near that intersection — including one just feet from the crime scene.

Only one nearby business owner allowed Patch access to his security footage. This video did appear to show the officer's car, but was too grainy to reveal much of anything else.

An NYPD official told the Daily News that surveillance footage would back up the police account of the shooting. However, the video wasn't shared with the paper.

Small's friends and family mourned his sudden, violent death on social media Monday and Tuesday.

"My uncle was shot in the head and killed... by a cop who never identified himself as an officer. Just pulled out his gun and shot my uncle in the face," Brooklyn relative Zay Vines wrote on Facebook.

"If my uncle was a white man in front of his white family he would not be dead right now," Vines wrote in a separate post.

A woman named Victoria Precious, who identified herself as Small's sister, announced that a vigil would be held 7 p.m. Wednesday at the site of the shooting in her brother's memory.

As of Tuesday afternoon, a GoFundMe campaign to benefit Small's family had raised $1,050.

And Anthony Beckford, head of the local police watchdog group Copwatch Patrol Unit - Brooklyn, said the group was investigating the shooting, and "would be honored" to bring attention to Small's death via an organized protest.

Small's friends, family and supporters aren't the only ones questioning his killing.

On Tuesday, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced that his office had "launched a full investigation" into the incident, led by the year-old Special Investigations And Prosecutions Unit — set up last summer with the express purpose of prosecuting "cases where unarmed civilians die during interactions with law enforcement."

NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton reportedly said the police department is cooperating with Schneiderman's investigation.