Devin Spraggins jailed 39 years for shooting NYPD officer Brett Boller in Queens

Devin Spraggins, 24, was sentenced to 39 years to life for the 2023 shooting of rookie Officer Brett Boller in Jamaica, Queens. A jury convicted him last month.

Queens man sentenced to 39 years to life for shooting of rookie NYPD officer

Devin Spraggins, 24, was sentenced to 39 years to life on Monday morning for the April 2023 shooting of rookie NYPD Officer Brett Boller in Jamaica, Queens, abc7ny.com reports.

Dozens of officers filled a Queens criminal courtroom for the sentencing. Spraggins had been convicted by a jury the previous month.

The incident began when Boller, then 22, and his partner were on routine patrol and confronted Spraggins after he assaulted a passenger on an MTA bus. Spraggins opened fire on Boller during the ensuing chase, striking him with an illegal firearm.

Assistant District Attorney Kanella Georgopoulos described what followed: "This defendant stood over Detective Boller's defenseless body on the ground and tried to execute him by attempting to shoot him a second time." Officials said only a mechanical failure — the magazine dropping from the gun as Spraggins fled — prevented a second shot.

Spraggins fled the scene in a livery car but was tracked to a basement apartment in the Bronx and taken into custody shortly after.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz placed the incident in stark terms. "All of this started because of a seat on a bus," Katz said. "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."

Spraggins's attorney argued the shooting was a situation that spiralled out of control, and told the judge his client had endured significant trauma throughout his life but still had the potential to become a decent human being.

Judge Kenneth Holder was unmoved, noting repeatedly that Spraggins had multiple opportunities to stop and chose not to. "You permanently injured and altered the career path of Police Officer Boller who may have gone on to do great things for this city in that role," Holder said.

Source: Google News JM — Crime