Thursday 7 July 2022 03:06 PM Fury over prosecution of 'hard working' NYC bodega employee trends now
There is mounting anger over woke Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg's decision to charge a 62-year-old bodega employee with murder for killing a career criminal in self-defense after the thug attacked him in his store.
Jose Alba is in Rikers Island this morning awaiting his first court appearance on charges of murder.
His bail has been set at $250,000 - an exorbitant amount compared with the low-or-no cash bail that is routinely given to repeat offenders by Bragg's soft-touch office.
On Friday night, Alba stabbed Austin Simon to death after Simon attacked him in the Bluemoon Convenient Store in Harlem.
Alba, who is beloved in the local community, has worked there for decades and has no criminal record.
His family launched a GoFundMe page to help pay his legal expenses - but the page was removed on Wednesday night after raising $20,000. GoFundMe is yet to explain the decision.
Over the weekend, Alba was arraigned on a second degree murder charge and Bragg's office asked the judge to set Alba's bail at $500,000 - which the judge deemed too high.
Alba has not yet been indicted; his case is going before a grand jury on Saturday.
This was the altercation that led to Jose Alba's arrest last Friday. Alba, 62, is shown in a blue striped shirt and hat. Austin Simon, right, arrived in the store to confront Alba who had refused to give his girlfriend a bag of potato chips
The pair started fighting and Alba grabbed the knife that the staff in the store use to open boxes. He stabbed Simon in the neck and chest
There is growing anger over the prosecution of bodega worker Alba by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg and his office
The row began in the store on Friday night when Simon's girlfriend, who has not been named, tried to buy a bag of potato chips for her daughter.
Her debit card was declined as she tried to make the purchase and Alba insisted that she hand the chips back over.
According to police, the woman then produced her own knife from her handbag. There was a scuffle and she ran out of the store to call on Simon for help.
Simon was on parole for attacking a police officer at the time of the incident on Friday night.
State records show he spent time in both Elmira and Five Points, two New York corrections facilities.
DA Alvin Bragg's office has not commented on the decision to charge Alba.
There is growing outrage over the decision among the community in Harlem where Alba lives, and online among strangers.
