The case of Jose Alba reminds us that progressive prosecutors don’t always apply their principles when they’re inconvenient.
A hard-working Manhattan bodega clerk who was forced to grab a knife to fend off a violent ex-con, now finds himself sitting behind bars at the notorious Rikers Island jail charged with murder and unable to post $250,000 bail.
A 51-year-old New York City bodega worker recently found himself on Rikers Island—one of the most notorious jails in the U.S., known for its pervasive violence and its drumbeat of death.
According to reports, the hefty figure is just half of what Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office wanted – and the confrontation that resulted in the death of 35-year-old Austin Simon, who was out on parole at the time after being imprisoned for assaulting a police officer.
Police said that Simon stormed the bodega after his girlfriend told him that Alba grabbed a bag of chips out of her 10-year-old daughter’s hands after the mother couldn’t pay for it because her EBT card was declined.
The disgruntled woman then left the bodega, ran home, and returned with her boyfriend – and that’s when the confrontation escalated.
According to Alba’s defense lawyer, the 32-year-old woman took a knife out of her purse and stabbed the bodega worker in the shoulder, the New York Post reported.
She is not facing charges for stabbing Jose Alba – But Jose Alba is facing a second-degree murder charge for fatally stabbing Austin Simon – AFTER the assailants stabbed him and violently attacked him.
Alba’s family says he was in fear for his life and acted in self-defense.
Watch the video below:
61-year-old bodega worker Jose Alba was attacked by an enraged career criminal, Austin Simon, who went behind the counter and choked him over a bag of chips. Alba defended himself, and Simon died. DA Alvin Bragg has charged him with murder. pic.twitter.com/FIfL1O1q7X
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) July 7, 2022
The New York Post reported:
A hard-working Manhattan bodega clerk who was forced to grab a knife to fend off a violent ex-con, now finds himself sitting behind bars at the notorious Rikers Island jail charged with murder and unable to post $250,000 bail.
The sky-high bail for Jose Alba — who has no known criminal history — was just half of what controversial Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office demanded, despite surveillance video showing the clerk being assaulted by his alleged victim in the bodega.
Alba, 51, was charged with the fatal stabbing of Austin Simon, 35, who can be seen storming behind the counter at the Hamilton Heights Grocery on Broadway and West 139th Street to attack the store worker Friday night.
“It was either him or the guy at the moment,” Alba’s daughter Yulissa told The Post Wednesday, saying it was a case of self-defense.
“He’s never hurt anybody. He’s never had an altercation where he had to defend himself. This is the first time for him.”
Left-leaning prosecutors are often suspicious of self-defense claims when the person killed is someone they’d often reflexively sympathize with. Simon was black, poor, and caught up in the criminal justice system. And so now Alba—himself neither white nor well-off—is caught up in the criminal justice system too.
The GoFundMe page was set to raise funds to cover Alba’s bail money and legal fees after he was charged with second-degree murder. However, the page was removed Wednesday night, according to the New York Post.
Sources: TheGatewayPundit, The New York Post
