Police have arrested and charged a suspect with attempting to kill a rookie NYPD cop Brett Boller in Queens after he was tracked getting away from the scene of the crime in a Lyft.
Devin Spraggins, 22, refused to answers questions as he defiantly flipped the bird to reporters while cops walked him in handcuffs out of the 103 Precinct house Friday — after he was hit with charges that included first-degree attempted murder of a police officer.
Spraggins — who was busted by federal officers in the Bronx overnight — allegedly fired a single shot at Boller after a violent dispute over a seat onboard an MTA bus in Jamaica on Wednesday.
NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig told reporters at a press conference Friday that after gunning down Boller and throwing away his sweatshirt and jacket, Spraggins was caught on video using a ride-share car as a getaway vehicle, which allowed cops to follow him to the first of his two bolt holes.
“We observed a black Nissan pick up our shooter. Detectives were able to ID that auto as a Lyft-for-hire vehicle,” Essig said. “They were able to ascertain that the auto discharged our shooter at 215th street and 102nd Ave.
Devin Spraggins has been charged with shooting NYPD officer Brett Bollins in Queens.
Police were then able to find social media accounts belonging to people living at the home on 215th Street and find a possible match to the shooting suspect.
A search warrant was obtained and executed around 7 p.m. Thursday at that address, where police seized a pair of sneakers, which Essig said were believed to have been worn by Spraggins — although the suspect himself was not there at the time.
Spraggins was apprehended in the Wakefield section of the Bronx Thursday by the US Marshals Fugitive Task Force.
Detectives obtained leads that linked Spraggins to another address in the Bronx, and at 9 p.m., members of the US Marshals Fugitive Task Force converged on a home in the 4500 block of Bronx Boulevard and apprehended Spraggins “quickly and without incident.”
A 9mm handgun was recovered from the scene. It’s unclear whether it was the same weapon used in the cop’s shooting, but shells and a magazine of the caliber were found at the site of the shooting.
The shooting incident began at about 3:20 p.m. Wednesday, when Essig said Spraggins boarded a city bus and confronted a passenger by yelling at him: “why are you staring at me? Get out of my seat?”
The 22-year-old suspect then allegedly pulled a gun on the rider, prompting the MTA driver to flag down two police officers who were in the area, cops said.
Officer Brett Boller, 22, was shot in the thigh after confronting a gun-toting suspect in Queens after an armed dispute over a bus seat.
A video shows the moment Boller was shot on a sidewalk in Queens Wednesday after confronting a suspect.
Spraggins then fled on foot after pushing an NYPD officer out of the way. But Boller — who has been on the force only three months — gave chase.
Harrowing surveillance video obtained by The Post showed Spraggins tussling with Boller on the ground in the middle of 161st Street, before he allegedly opened fire, striking the officer in the right hip.
As the gunman ran away, he ditched his jacket, mask and sweatshirt to change his appearance, which were later recovered from a parking garage.
Boller was helped by his fellow NYPD officers at the scene, before being rushed to Jamaica Hospital, where he was recovering following surgery.
Boller, from Hauppauge, Long Island, is the son of an NYPD inspector in the Brooklyn North precinct.
Boller’s fellow officers came to his aid before he was rushed to a hospital to be treated for a gunshot wound.
Police said the shooting suspect ditched his sweatshirt, jacket and mask in a garage after the shooting.
“I spoke with inspector Don Boller,” Essig said Friday. “He and his family are very relieved and grateful, but being a member of the Detective Bureau he was not surprised at the swiftness of the arrest.”
Essig said of Spraggins that he was “not known” to the NYPD before Wednesday and has no arrest record he could speak of, adding: “we know he’s a transient. He bounces around from here to here.”
The Post has uncovered, however, that the 22-year-old does have a juvenile arrest history in New York, which includes two robbery charges from July 10, 2014 and an assault count from July 9, 2014.
