Jose Alba New York City Bodega Stabbing (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)
Earlier this month many were outraged when a New York City bodega worker was arrested and charged with murder for defending himself during an attack, but now it looks like the incident is all behind him. 61-year-old Jose Alba is officially a free man, following the announcement that the previous murder charges against him surrounding a fatal stabbing have been dropped.
@NYDailyNews reports, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg entered a formal request to a New York City judge that murder charges against Jose Alba be dismissed. Alba, a Harlem bodega worker who fatally stabbed a man who attacked him from behind the counter, was previously facing a hefty prison sentence if convicted. Alba has stated that he was simply acting in self-defense when he stabbed (and ultimately killed) 34-year-old Austin Simon while working his shift at the Blue Moon bodega on July 1st.
Before the charges were dropped, Jose Alba was held at the notorious Rikers Island prison, where he suffered an infection from the stab wound he received during the altercation with Simon. Many New York residents were upset at Alba’s arrest, including current Mayor Eric Adams, who stated that Alba was “doing his job and someone aggressively went behind the counter to attack him.”
As we previously reported, Austin Simon charged inside the local bodega after Jose Alba confiscated a bag of chips from the 10-year-old daughter of Simon’s girlfriend, after the woman couldn’t pay for the chips. Things quickly escalated and Simon pushed Alba, sending him flying into a wall of merchandise.
From there, Simon grabbed Alba and attempted to make him apologize to his girlfriend. However, that’s when things took a deadly turn when Alba grabbed a nearby knife and stabbed Simon five times, as Simon’s girlfriend also stabbed Alba in the arm.
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