FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | November 6, 2017
Contact: Yul-san Liem, yul-san@justicecommittee.org, 347.676.1878
In response to the jury's verdict of "not guilty" in the Wayne Isaacs murder trial, the Justice Committee released the following statement from Co-Directors Loyda Colon and Yul-san Liem:
The Justice Committee is outraged by the failure of the criminal justice system as a whole and the jury of NYPD Officer Wayne Isaacs' murder trial specifically to hold Isaacs accountable for murdering Delrawn Small in cold blood on July 4, 2016. We send our love and support to Delrawn's family, for whom today's “not-guilty” verdict constitutes another grave injustice heaped upon the injustice of losing their loved one at the hands of an NYPD officer who was supposedly committed to protecting and serving New Yorkers.
While we acknowledge the effort of the New York State Attorney General's Office to prosecute this case thoroughly and fairly in its capacity as special prosecutor for police killings, the jury's “not-guilty” verdict is indicative of a grotesquely sick system and society that gives police officers free reign to brutalize and kill as they please, while at the same time devaluing the lives of Black people and other people of color in this country.
Let there be no mistake about the message this verdict sends - that officers have a license to murder people merely for approaching them. The idea that Isaacs is still a police officer after he intentionally gunning down Delrawn from his car window and left him to die in a pool of is own blood should terrify us all. If Isaacs is allowed to keep his job, it will send a clear message to all New Yorkers that the NYPD and de Blasio administration do not value Black lives and, instead are giving license to all officers to use excessive, deadly force as a first option in all instances. We therefore amplify Delrawn's family's demand that Mayor de Blasio and Commission Bratton to immediately fire Wayne Isaacs and commit to standing with them as they continue to pursue justice in Delrawn's name.
A statement from Delrawn's sister and brother, Victoria Davis and Victor Dempsey, can be found here.
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