A road rage incident involving an off-duty New York City police officer and a 37-year-old man turned deadly after the officer opened fire during a heated confrontation, authorities say.
According to the New York Daily News, Delrawn Small, his girlfriend, their 4-month-old and her two daughters were driving down a street in the East New York section of New York City’s borough of Brooklyn early Monday morning when a 2002 Nissan Altima driven by an off-duty police officer, Wayne Isaacs, also 37, reportedly cut them off.
According to police accounts, Small exited the 2016 Kia he was driving and approached Isaacs. Small reportedly punched Isaacs twice, and Isaacs then pulled his service weapon and shot Small twice as his family watched.
"Even if the man did attack you, roll up your window, drive off—hold yourself to a higher standard," 40-year-old Jermaine Gabriel, a friend of Small’s, told the Daily News. "Yeah, you can get upset. But to kill a man?"
One witness told of a different series of events leading to the shooting.
"Delrawn and the cop’s car almost hit each other. And Delrawn got out of the car, and the cop just jumped out and started screaming," Lloyd Banks, 43, told the Daily News.
"He just shot [Small] right there on the street. [He] was unarmed. His [girlfriend] and kids were still in the car. They saw everything."
Small died in the intersection shortly after being shot.
The Daily News reports that New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has announced a probe into the shooting and that Police Commissioner Bill Bratton says the NYPD is offering its full cooperation.
"We are comfortable, based on the preliminary investigation, that this was a road rage incident," Bratton said.
A police source told the Daily News that Isaacs, who has been on the police force for three years, will need to explain what led him to use deadly force.
"Words can’t begin to explain the pain I feel right now," Small's girlfriend, Zaquanna Albert, posted on Facebook. " … My heart aches for this man and my son who will never remember his dad."
Read more at the New York Daily News.