New York City is calling a judge to dismiss a wrongful arrest lawsuit filed by a former bodega worker who was accused of murder in a self-defense case by Manhattan’s George Soros-funded Democrat District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
The ex-bodega clerk is 61-year-old Jose Alba.
The incident happened back in July 2022, as Slay News reported at the time.
The case provoked widespread controversy when Alba was arrested and charged with murder, despite security footage proving that he was defending himself against a violent attacker.
The incident involved Alba, a customer – Austin Simon – and his girlfriend, Tina Lee.
The New York Post reports:
“Alba, 61, was thrust into the spotlight in July 2022 when customer Austin Simon angrily confronted him and pulled him up by the collar, demanding an apology after the clerk denied Simon’s girlfriend chips for her daughter.”
“The clerk grabbed a knife and killed Smith, 35, and was put in jail on a second-degree murder charge that was later dropped following an outpouring of support, including from Mayor [Eric] Adams [D] who declared ‘this hard-working New Yorker was doing his job, and someone aggressively went behind the counter to attack him.’”
Following a backlash, Bragg’s office eventually decided to dismiss the charges.
Nevertheless, Alba was only released after spending nearly a week in jail at Rikers Island.
The matter did not end there, however.
Rather, Alba decided to file a wrongful arrest lawsuit against New York City, Bragg, and New York Police Department (NYPD) Detective William Garcia.
It is this wrongful arrest lawsuit that New York City is now trying to get dismissed.
Fox News reports:
“Lawyers for the city claimed, in a Friday court filing, that they had reason to charge Alba based on the available evidence, which includes testimony from Simon’s girlfriend, witness testimony, and surveillance video of the incident.”
However, the security footage, which was widely shared online, clearly showed career criminal Simon attacking Alba and forcing him to defend himself.
WATCH (WARNING: GRAPHIC VIOLENCE):
https://twitter.com/StarsAndBars123/status/1544485851228344322
The idea, of course, is that, if the city “had reason to charge Alba,” then the wrongful arrest lawsuit has no basis.
It is unclear whether the city will be successful in getting the case dismissed.
Alba’s lawyer, Richard Cardinale, has called the dismissal motion “outrageous.”
Cardinale explained to Fox News why, saying:
The city’s lawyers mischaracterized the incident and lawsuit brought forth by Jose Alba by misstating in their motion to dismiss, that Jose Alba was the bad guy and the aggressor.
Part of the city’s motion to dismiss right now in the civil case says Austin Simon’s girlfriend, Tina Lee, corroborated a series of events to support Alba’s arrest.
According to Cardinale, no such corroboration exists.
