MANHATTAN, NEW YORK: Jose Alba, a former bodega clerk has reportedly sued Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for racial discrimination after being booked in Rikers Island prison for killing an attacker in self-defense.
Alba, 62, who moved back to his native Dominican Republic after murder charges were dropped, filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York on Friday, September 29.
In the legal complaint, he alleged that he was wrongfully prosecuted because of Bragg’s pursuit of “racial equity” in the Manhattan criminal justice system.
The complaint names Bragg, NYPD Detective William Garcia, and unidentified arresting officers and detectives of the NYPD as defendants in the case.
“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,” states the suit, according to Daily Mail.
Why did Jose Alba kill Austin Simon?
On July 1, Alba was working at a Blue Moon bodega in Harlem when he fatally stabbed ex-con Austin Simon in the neck and chest.
In surveillance footage, Simon was seen moving behind the counter at the convenience store in Hamilton Heights before pushing Alba into a stack of shelves.
As Simon grabbed Alba by his collar, he reached over to a shelf and pulled out a knife to defend himself. During the dispute, Alba was stabbed by Simon's girlfriend, who allegedly started the argument after her card declined.
At one point in the altercation, Alba pushed Simon back and fatally stabbed him. Alba insisted he acted in self-defense, but Bragg charged him with second-degree murder and demanded a $500,000 bond, which was ultimately reduced to $250,000.
The store clerk failed to pay the bail fee and was shipped off to Rikers, where he endured “inhumane and unconstitutional conditions,” according to the suit.
Why were charges against Jose Alba dropped?
Bragg’s decision sparked a sea of public backlash, including from Mayor Eric Adams and former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton, who ripped him for imprisoning a working guy who appeared to be defending himself and his store from a robbery.
Alba was detained at Rikers Island for six days before being released after the prosecution reduced his bail to $50,000.
“My heart goes out to the employee who was in the store doing his job,” Adams said at the time, adding, “I am hoping that we take all of that into consideration, as this hard-working New Yorker was doing his job, and someone aggressively went behind the counter to attack him.”
Following the public outcry, Bragg finally dropped the charges on July 19, conceding there wasn't enough evidence to show the employee "was not justified in his use of deadly physical force," according to a motion from his office.
Alba and his lawyers announced plans to sue in February, but delayed filing the case while attempting to negotiate a pre-lawsuit settlement, which proved unsuccessful, said Rich Cardinale, a lawyer for the former bodega worker.
