The Brooklyn man who allegedly shot a New York City policeman in the back on Christmas night but did not injure his target with a bulletproof vest offered a weak apology when he was taken to court Friday. .
“I’m sorry, officer,” William Moss murmured behind a blue mask, when The Post asked him if he had a message for Connor Boalick, the legislator whose life ended.
“I wish it never happened.”
Handcuffed and wearing a gray Nike hooded sweatshirt, Moss expressed his sudden lament when he was taken to Brooklyn Criminal Court to answer charges such as attempted murder and assault.
Moss, 20, was reportedly shot twice in the back of Boalick around 9 p.m., as the officer was taking statements from Moss’s girlfriend, police and sources said.
Boalick and his partner were initially called to the site of Bergen Street and Ralph Avenue in Crown Heights because the woman accused Moss of threatening to shoot her home, police and sources have reported.
Thanks to his bulletproof vest, Boalick, 27, escaped the cowardly attack from behind virtually unharmed, he even left Kings County Hospital on Christmas morning.
While expressing gratitude that Boalick lived to tell the story, Pat Lynch, president of the Police Benevolent Association, told the hospital that lawmakers should help foster a climate conducive to policing, where criminals they fear the consequences of the shootings at Finest.
According to police and sources, except for a citation for smoking marijuana, Moss had not previously crossed paths with the NYPD.
It is expected to be processed on Christmas Eve.