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Video: Terrifying Moment NYC Bodega Worker Defends Himself in Vicious Attack, But He's the One Arrested

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Jose Alba is being hailed as a hero on Twitter.

But the 61-year-old bodega worker is a criminal in the eyes of New York City police after a scuffle with a customer turned deadly.

Alba was arrested by police after he stabbed Austin Simon, 37, in a Friday night confrontation that was captured by surveillance video that has since been obtained by the New York Post. The video is graphic in its depiction of the incident.


The video showed Simon shoving Alba into a shelf and appeared to be yelling at him. Alba then reached for a knife while the two men struggled, resulting in Simon being stabbed.

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Simon was taken to Harlem Hospital where he died. Alba was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon. He was jailed on Rikers Island with bail set at $250,000. The incident had its roots in a visit to the bodega by a woman who wanted to buy a bag of chips, but did not have the money. Simon was then summoned.

The Daily News explained what took place before the video began.

“The lady threw everything from the counter and the machine, too,” Maad Ahmad, the owner of the Bluemoon Convenient Store said, referring to the store’s card reader. “She said, ‘I’m going to get my man, and he’s going to get you.’”

“He grabbed Jose by the neck and tried to get him to apologize to the girl,” Ahmad said. “He pushed Jose first, Jose was just defending himself.”

Should the bodega worker have been arrested?

“Jose said ‘I don’t want any problems,’” Ahmad said.

Police records said Alba told police, “He wanted me to come apologize to the girl. I took the knife we use to open boxes, and I stabbed him.”

Court documents also claim that Simon’s girlfriend stabbed Alba in the arm.

Many on Twitter sided with Alba.

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Alba’s son, Danny, created a GoFundMe for his father, calling the incident “a great injustice.”

“It hurts me knowing that a man cannot defend himself within his own community without being made to look like a villain,” he wrote.

“It is truly disgusting how they are trying to keep my dad in jail for protecting himself from a person who physically and verbally assaulted him before he took any action to protect his own life. If there is any justice left in the judicial system please let it work here, in the place where I was born and raised, Harlem,” he wrote.

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Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.
Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.
Jack can be reached at jackwritings1@gmail.com.
Location
New York City
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Politics, Foreign Policy, Military & Defense Issues




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