(Press Release) December 2, 2024
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Devin Spraggins has been sentenced today to 39 years to life in prison for shooting NYPD Detective Brett Boller after an altercation. Spraggins was convicted by a jury last month. The rookie officer and his partner, Officer Anthony Rock, were on routine patrol in the Jamaica business district in April 2023 when they confronted Spraggins after he assaulted a passenger on an MTA bus.
District Attorney Katz said: “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. Devin Spraggins used an illegal firearm and shot Police Officer Brett Boller. With the officer on the ground, this defendant did not attempt escape. Instead, he aimed that gun and pulled the trigger again. This would have been a cold-blooded execution, if not for the magazine dropping from the gun as Spraggins ran from the police. A jury has spoken, and this defendant has now been sentenced to prison.”
Spraggins, 24, of 93rd Avenue in Jamaica, was sentenced today by Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder to 39 years to life in prison.
The defendant was convicted by a jury last month of attempted murder in the first degree, assault in the first degree, aggravated assault of a police officer and assault of a police officer all pertaining to Officer Boller; of attempted assault in the first degree and menacing a police officer pertaining to Officer Rock; as well as two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, tampering with physical evidence and assault in the third degree.
He was acquitted of attempted murder of the second police officer.
According to the charges and trial testimony, on April 5, 2023, at approximately 3:20 p.m., Spraggins was aboard an MTA bus traveling on Jamaica Avenue when he punched a fellow passenger as the bus neared 161st Street. The driver flagged down Officer Anthony Rock for help, and Officer Rock retrieved his partner, Officer Brett Boller, who was nearby assisting with an illegally parked vehicle. Both officers had recently joined the NYPD and were patrolling the Jamaica business district.
Officers Boller and Rock approached the front door of the bus and attempted to talk to Spraggins. The defendant pushed past Boller and ran. Officers Boller and Rock then pursued Spraggins on foot.
At that time, Spraggins turned toward Officers Boller and Rock while holding a gun, then turned and kept running away from the officers. Spraggins also dropped a loaded magazine onto Jamaica Avenue.
As they continued running in pursuit, Officer Boller closed the distance and Spraggins turned and shot him at point-blank range. The bullet pierced Officer Boller’s femoral artery and vein and shattered his hip. The defendant attempted to fire again at Boller but there were no bullets left in the gun, as the defendant dropped his magazine earlier in the foot pursuit.
Moments later, Spraggins racked the slide of his gun, took a shooter’s stance and aimed at Officer Rock.
Spraggins then ran into a parking garage, where he was seen on video surveillance footage taking off his black jacket and sweatshirt and leaving in a white T-shirt.
Police found a shell casing near the shooting scene and a magazine loaded with 15 rounds of ammunition at the corner of Jamaica Avenue and 161st Street, where Spraggins was seen running from police before the shooting.
Security camera video footage showed Spraggins at 161st Street and Hillside Avenue getting into a black Nissan, identified as a for-hire Lyft vehicle that took him to a residence on 215th Street.
A search warrant executed at the property the next day produced information that led law enforcement to an address in the Bronx, where Spraggins was arrested.
Officer Boller, who was 22 at the time of the shooting, underwent surgery for his gunshot injuries at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center. Officer Rock, 21 at the time, was not injured.
Officer Boller has returned to modified duty and was recently promoted to detective.
Assistant District Attorneys Kanella Georgopoulos of the District Attorney’s Career Criminal Major Crimes Bureau and Eric Weinstein of the Homicide Bureau prosecuted the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Michael Whitney, Chief of the Career Criminal Major Crimes Bureau, and Roni C. Piplani, Deputy Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark.