UPDATE: Imprisoned bodega owner Jose Alba was released from Rikers Island on Thursday after his family was able to post a bond that had been reduced to $50,000, according to the New York Post. While out on bail, Alba will have to “wear an ankle bracelet, surrender his passport and is not allowed to leave the five boroughs.
Original story below:
Outrage Simmers as Soros-DA Alvin Bragg Charges Elderly Bodega Owner w/ Murder
(Preston Parra, Headline USA) Confusion continues to mount as citizens of New York City who legally defend themselves from armed thugs are reportedly being prosecuted for doing just that.
At the start of the July 4 holiday weekend, Harlem bodega owner Jose Alba started his day like usual, not expecting to be violently attacked by a career criminal, or prosecuted by a radical Soros-funded DA on a murder charge for defending his life, reported the Daily Mail.
While Alba was sitting next to his bodega register during the slow part of the night, a man named Austin Simon got upset that his girlfriend couldn’t get the chips she wanted because she didn’t have enough money.
Simon, a reportedly known gang member with a lengthy rap sheet for violent crime, went behind the register and began to assault Alba, according to reports. In swift action and apparent self-defense, Alba reached for his knife and struck Simon.
Police say Simon died from his injuries at the hospital later that night. Following the incident, police decided to arrest the bodega owner for Simon’s death.
Radical leftist Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has decided to keep Alba at Rikers Island, where he waits trial for an act that most people, and a growing number of Alba supporters, deemed justifiable self-defense.
To make matters worse, Bragg set an exorbitant $500,000 bail for Alba, from a prosecutor who champions no-cash bail for career criminals. A judge later reduced it to $250,000.
Notoriously leftist NYC Mayor Eric Adams weighed in on the issue with a tepid statement, pledging that his “heart goes out for this hard-working, honest New Yorker that was doing his job in his place of business, where a person came in and went behind the counter and attacked him,” according to the New York Post.
Adams then immediately contradicted himself, claiming his hands were tied to help a person who he apparently thinks is being wrongly prosecuted.
“The DA has a non-mandate, where we cannot dictate or mandate how he determines how he’s going to prosecute crimes,” Adams said of the usually reliably soft-on-crime Manhattan district attorney.
“I’m not going to second-guess the district attorney for his actions,” Adams said.
Sympathetic supporters of Alba quickly acted to donate enough money to get him out on bond, after his family set up a fundraising platform on GoFundMe. However, the money-raising venue promptly shut it down, automatically refunding the $20,000 the family had raised in support.
It is unclear now whether or not an appeal will be made on behalf of the family to GoFundMe; however, public support is growing for the shop owner, who by most accounts and reports had little choice but to defend himself.
Tell DA Alvin Bragg to stop criminalizing self defense and drop the charges against Jose Alba. #freejosealba #NYC https://t.co/hQxNFBGRUS
— Nickie Kane for NY (@NickieKane4NYC) July 6, 2022
