A former clerk who worked in New York City bodegas for more than 30 years has filed a major lawsuit against left-wing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, alleging racial discrimination after murder charges against him were dropped.
Jose Alba made headlines in July 2022 for stabbing 35-year-old Austin Simon after he and his girlfriend, Tina Lee, attacked Alba behind the counter, an incident that was caught on video and quickly went viral online. Bragg accused Alba of murder, though he was clearly attacked first and grabbed a knife to protect himself as he was being led out from behind the counter by Simon.
As reported first by Fox News, Alba “filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York on Friday alleging he was wrongfully prosecuted because of the Manhattan district attorney’s ‘racial equity’ policies. The complaint names Bragg, NYPD Detective William Garcia, and unidentified arresting officers and detectives of the NYPD as defendants in the case.”
The complaint says: “New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg and/or his subordinates, following Bragg’s policy to achieve ‘racial equity’ in the Manhattan criminal justice system, charged Plaintiff with murder in the second degree and asked for high bail at Plaintiff’s arraignment.”
It adds: “Despite the fact that Simon and Lee were the initial aggressors, it was Plaintiff who was arrested, incarcerated, and wrongfully prosecuted. While in theory, Bragg’s ‘racial equity’ policies are a well-intentioned attempt by him to implement even-handed justice, the means and methods employed by Bragg have instead had an opposite effect and resulted in discrimination against certain defendants based on race.”
Defendants in the lawsuit include Department of Corrections Commissioner Louis Molina and other DOC officials “responsible for the unconstitutional conditions of confinement and inadequate medical care at Rikers Island.”
JUST IN: Bodega clerk Jose Alba sues Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg for RACIAL DISCRIMINATION after he was put in Rikers Island for ki-ling attacker in self defense.
Suit claims it was “to push prosecutor’s ‘EQUITY’ agenda”..
“While in theory, Bragg’s ‘racial equity’ policies are a… pic.twitter.com/tlrp5Smlnj
— Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) October 1, 2023
According to Fox News Digital, Richard Cardinale, Alba’s attorney, Alba is suing the city for monetary damages, including both compensatory and punitive damages.
The Law Department of New York City has stated that it will review the case once it has been served.
Alba’s case gained widespread attention for several months following his second-degree murder charge in the killing of Simon, Fox reported. The incident, captured on surveillance footage, showed Simon approaching the cashier’s desk at the Blue Moon convenience store in Manhattan and shoving Alba. Despite his claim of self-defense, Alba was incarcerated at Riker’s Island prison and initially faced a $250,000 bail, which sparked outrage within the city’s Dominican community.
“After the video of Simon and Lee’s attack on Plaintiff was shown by the news media, and Plaintiff’s arrest, prosecution, and incarceration at Rikers Island Correctional Facility became a national story, there was widespread outrage against Bragg and his office for charging a law-abiding, older working man for lawfully defending himself during the crime wave in New York City, caused in part by the massive resignations of New York City Police Officers, and legislation and policies that frustrate the ability for law enforcement to combat crime,” the complaint says.
“Defensively, Bragg responded that he was still investigating the incident, while Plaintiff, who could not pay the high bail for murder in the second degree, suffered at Rikers Island, unaware whether he was facing a long prison sentence for lawful self-defense,” the complaint adds.
After being subjected to intense scrutiny that included New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Bragg dropped the murder charge on July 19, 2022.
Bragg has also been accused of playing politics with his prosecution of former President Donald Trump, whom he has charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
“If it wasn’t Donald Trump, no prosecutor in the world would have touched this,” noted former assistant district attorney Daniel Bibb, who spent more than two decades trying murder cases in Manhattan, in an interview with the news outlet. “If you and I did what Trump did, we never would have been charged.”
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
