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Raw: Video captures suspect's arrest in rookie NYPD cop shooting
Video shows the arrest of 22-year-old Devin Spraggins on April 6, 2023, in the Bronx in connection to the shooting of rookie NYPD Officer Brett Boller in Queens. Warning: Video may contain graphic language.
QUEENS - A man who shot a rookie NYPD officer in Queens in April of last year was sentenced on Monday, officials said.
On April 5 of last year, Devin Spraggins shot NYPD officer Brett Boller in broad daylight in Jamaica near the intersection of 161st Street and Jamaica Avenue.
Braggins was sentenced to 39 years to life.
Devin Spraggins, 22, is pictured on March 7, 2023, after his arrest.
According to police, an MTA bus driver flagged down two police officers, telling them two men were involved in a fight over a seat.
When officers approached the bus, the suspect exited the front of the bus and pushed past the officers as he fled north on 161st Street. Boller and his partner were able to catch up with the suspect, and "a brief struggle occurred."
Spraggins was charged with attempted murder of a police officer, assault, criminal possession of a weapon, and obstructing governmental administration, NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said during a news conference in April 2023.
Spraggins was charged with attempted murder of a police officer, assault, criminal possession of a weapon, and obstructing governmental administration, Essig said.
Police also recovered a 9 mm handgun that was being tested by a forensics team for evidence, Essig added.
Boller, a 103rd Precinct officer who had only joined the department in July 2022, was shot in the right hip, according to authorities. He was taken into surgery and recovered at Jamaica Hospital.
"All of this started because of a seat on a bus. A police officer has spent over a year with surgeries and physical therapy recovering from getting shot, and only by a twist of fate was not killed," Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said.