Dozens of elected officials are demanding NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch reject a judge’s recommendation to dismiss disciplinary charges against an officer who killed an unarmed man in 2016.

The letter, sent Thursday to Tisch, comes as Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani prepares to assume office with a pledge to take some power over police discipline away from the commissioner. It also comes as Tisch is reportedly in talks to keep her position in the new Mamdani administration.

The case revolves around a road-rage incident in East New York between Officer Wayne Isaacs and Delrawn Small.

On July 4, 2016, Isaacs was driving home from his shift when he allegedly cut off Small, 37, on Atlantic Avenue in East New York. Both vehicles stopped at a red light at Bradford Street.

Police say Small exited his car — where his girlfriend, her 14-year-old daughter and the couple’s infant sat — walked across traffic lanes and approached Isaacs' driver-side window. Video shows Isaacs shot Small three times within two seconds of Small reaching his window. Small was unarmed. Isaacs claimed Small threatened to kill him and punched him through the window.

Since then, the case has taken a circuitous path through the courts and city's disciplinary system.

Isaacs was indicted by a Brooklyn grand jury for murder and manslaughter, charges that were prosecuted by the state attorney general's office. He was acquitted in November 2017. After the acquittal, the NYPD cleared him of wrongdoing, returning Isaacs to full duty.

In 2017, Small's girlfriend sued the city for wrongful death in federal court. In that case, Isaacs argued the city should indemnify him and cover his legal settlement, saying he was acting as a police officer. The judge in that case agreed, and the city paid $125,000 to Small’s girlfriend.

In October 2020, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, the city’s official police oversight body, substantiated three new charges of improper use of force — one for each shot fired — setting up another attempt at discipline.

Then, Isaacs and the police union argued he wasn’t acting as a police officer during the shooting and therefore shouldn’t be disciplined as one.

The Civilian Complaint Review Board and advocates say the union, the Police Benevolent Association, is pushing a legal contradiction: In order to avoid discipline, Isaacs claimed he wasn't acting as a police officer when he shot Small, despite successfully arguing the opposite in federal court in order to get the city to pay his legal settlement.

While the case involves a niche legal issue, how Tisch handles it could signal whether the hopes advocates have for giving civilian watchdogs greater jurisdiction over police discipline will be realized under a new administration.

"Dismissing the charges against Officer Isaacs after Mr. Small’s family has fought for nearly a decade to ensure he faces some level of accountability would be a gross miscarriage of justice," the lawmakers’ letter states, adding that a dismissal "would send a dangerous message about the direction of police accountability as New York enters a new mayoral administration."

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, one of the officials who signed the letter, urged Tisch to consider the new direction Mayor-elect Mamdani campaigned on for policing in America's largest city.

"I do have faith in Zohran Mamdani,” Williams said at a rally outside police headquarters Thursday. “I'm hoping that he's having conversations letting the commissioner know that if we're going to move forward, we have to move forward with a different vision than what we've had for the past few years."

Other signatories include Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and Comptroller Brad Lander.

According to court documents, NYPD departmental trial judge Rosemarie Maldonado recommended last month that the charges against Isaacs be dismissed. She cited federal legal precedent that requires specific actions for an off-duty officer to be considered acting "under color of law."

According to her analysis, off-duty officers must take steps such as identifying themselves as police, displaying a badge or detaining someone.

Maldonado found that because Isaacs didn’t do these things he was not acting in his capacity as a police officer and therefore needn’t be disciplined for killing someone.

According to departmental court records, the Civilian Complaint Review Board responded to Maldonado's decision by asking her to reconsider and citing a 2017 federal lawsuit where Isaacs argued he was entitled to city indemnification because his actions were "within the performance of his duties and within the scope of his employment as [a] New York City Police Officer,” according to court documents.

The city agreed and paid his $125,000 settlement.

The letter, signed by CCRB’s executive director John Darche, said Isaacs cannot both claim he was acting as an NYPD officer to defend himself from liability and secure indemnification in federal court, and then claim he was not acting as an officer to evade discipline.

"Isaacs allegedly didn't invoke his authority as a police officer during the encounter, despite having claimed that he acted as a police officer when sued by Mr. Small's family," said CCRB spokesperson Dakota Gardner. "Commissioner Tisch has said she takes her commitment to discipline seriously, and we are confident she will overrule DCT Maldonado and will let this case proceed to trial."

Isaacs' attorneys did not respond to requests for comment.

An NYPD spokesperson said only that the disciplinary process remains ongoing.

Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry praised Maldonado's recommendation, saying the Civilian Complaint Review Board was trying to bend the law and expand its authority.

“CCRB's constant overreach into matters beyond its jurisdiction isn't an accident — it is part of a coordinated campaign to take full control of the NYPD," he said.

A disciplinary trial is scheduled for Nov. 19 if Tisch allows it to proceed. Her decision could provide an early indication of how she and the incoming Mamdani administration will handle police accountability cases, particularly those involving jurisdictional disputes that have allowed cases to languish for years.

A spokesperson for Mamdani did not respond to requests for comment.