Devin Spraggins, 24, was sentenced to 39 years to life in prison on Monday for attempted murder after shooting and injuring a New York Police Department (NYPD) officer. Spraggins was convicted of opening fire on Officer Brett Boller, who had entered a city bus to respond to an altercation between Spraggins and another passenger in April 2023.
According to reports, Spraggins was fighting with a bus passenger when he wounded Officer Boller, who was shot in the right hip. After the shooting, Spraggins fled the scene in a Lyft and Officer Boller was taken to a hospital in stable condition.
During the sentencing, Judge Kenneth Holder strongly rebuked Spraggins, saying that the defining moment in the case was not the initial shooting, but rather when Spraggins pointed his gun at Officer Boller on the ground, screaming in pain, and pulled the trigger. The judge also pointed out that Spraggins tried to execute Officer Boller and did not care about his life.
Spraggins was identified from a tattoo on his hand with the name “Jocelyn,” and the shooting began when he acted aggressively towards another passenger on the bus. Officials said that the shooting happened at around 3:30 pm in Jamaica, Queens, after an MTA driver flagged down two police officers and told them there were two men involved in a dispute involving a bus seat.
