Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday stood up for the “hard-working” Manhattan bodega clerk languishing on Rikers Island on $250,000 bail after he fatally stabbed a violent ex-con whereas attempting to fend off an assault.
“My coronary heart goes out for this hard-working, sincere New Yorker that was doing his job in his workplace, the place an individual got here in and went behind the counter and attacked him,” Adams mentioned about 51-year-old Jose Alba at a press convention.
The mayor — who later paid a go to to the Hamilton Heights bodega — stopped wanting criticizing Manhattan District Legal professional Alvin Bragg’s workplace for charging Alba with second-degree homicide and requesting a whopping $500,000 bail on the employee’s arraignment Saturday.
“The DA has a non-mandate, the place we can not dictate or mandate how he determines how he’s going to prosecute crimes,” Adams advised reporters. “That's as much as the district lawyer, and I’m not going to second-guess the district lawyer for his actions.”
Prosecutors with Bragg’s workplace charged the dad of three with second-degree homicide within the deadly stabbing of Austin Simon, 34, on the Hamilton Heights nook retailer Friday.
Alba’s household insists he was appearing in self-defense when he grabbed a knife to struggle off Simon contained in the Hamilton Heights Grocery. Surveillance footage confirmed Simon storming behind the counter, the place he menaced and assaulted the worker.
Alba, who immigrated from the Dominican Republic 30 years in the past, is now locked up at Rikers Island as a result of he was unable to publish the $250,000 bail set by a Manhattan decide.
Throughout the unrelated press convention, Adams expressed sympathy with the “sincere” Alba, however declined to criticize the choice by Bragg’s prosecutors.
“My coronary heart goes out to the worker who was within the retailer doing his job,” he mentioned in response to a query from a Put up reporter. “I hope that we take all of that into consideration, as his hard-working New Yorker was doing his job, and somebody aggressively went behind the counter to assault him.”
Adams harassed that he's barred from directing instructions to native prosecutors, and kept away from explicitly weighing in on the costs Alba was slapped with and quantity of bail set. The mayor, nevertheless, does oversee the NYPD, which additionally charged the clerk with homicide.
“The DA has his job, I've my job because the mayor of town of New York, because the mayor of town of New York, I assist hard-working, harmless individuals which are doing their job, and I noticed him as a hard-working harmless New Yorker that an individual went behind the counter and attacked,” mentioned Adams, a retired NYPD captain.
Exterior the bodega later Thursday, Adams advised a gaggle of reporters that Simon’s actions have been “inappropriate” and declared that he's on the aspect of “harmless” New York Metropolis residents who comply with the regulation — slightly than those that break it.
“We now have sufficient people who find themselves there for individuals who break the regulation,” he mentioned. “As I noticed it, from the video, I noticed a employee right here following the regulation, and he shouldn't have been approached within the method that he was approached.”
“It’s time for New Yorkers and People to begin standing up for individuals who comply with the regulation, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
Bragg has confronted backlash over Alba’s case after his workplace introduced the costs — after which pushed for $500,000 bail.
Family members instantly launched a GoFundMe web page to assist elevate funds to cowl Alba’s sky-high bail and authorized charges after he was hit with a second-degree homicide cost — however the web page was mysteriously eliminated Wednesday night time.
Fernando Mateo — a spokesman for the United Bodega Affiliation — advised The Put up Alba “didn’t imply to kill anybody” as he lamented the plight of New Yorkers who work at nook shops.
“Bodega homeowners are being attacked every single day. They're being abused and ransacked by shoplifters,” Mateo mentioned Thursday.
Alba’s daughter, Yulissa, doubled down on the self-defense argument, telling The Put up Wednesday: “It was both him or the man in the mean time.”
She added, “He’s by no means harm anyone. He’s by no means had an altercation the place he needed to defend himself. That is the primary time for him.”
The worker was captured within the surprising video tending to clients whereas behind the counter on the Hamilton Heights Grocery retailer on Broadway, the place he was all of the sudden confronted by the a lot youthful former offender.
Simon — who was on parole and had at the least eight prior busts, together with for assault, in line with sources and data — then shoved him right into a shelf, the video exhibits. After a number of moments, Alba reached to the world the place sweet is stocked, pulled out a knife and plunged it into Simon’s neck and chest.
“There isn't a clearer instance of self-defense,” mentioned former prosecutor and felony protection lawyer Michael Discioarro.
“He’s at work, minding his personal enterprise and he's attacked,” Discioarro added. “He's the sufferer, and he’s sitting in Rikers.”
The lethal confrontation Friday night time got here after an argument Alba had with Simon’s girlfriend, whose EBT debit card was declined on the retailer, the place she tried to make use of it to buy potato chips for her 10-year-old daughter, police and regulation enforcement sources beforehand advised The Put up.
The 32-year-old girl mentioned Alba snatched the snack out of her daughter’s hand, so she knocked over objects on the counter and hurried house to get Simon, who stormed into the bodega and attacked Alba roughly 10 minutes later.
Throughout the struggle, Simon’s girlfriend allegedly stabbed the Dominican-born immigrant within the shoulder with a knife she stored in her purse, in line with Alba’s protection lawyer, however she will not be going through expenses.
In a press release Wednesday, a spokesman for Bragg mentioned “we're persevering with to evaluation the proof and the investigation is ongoing.”
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