Clients and co-workers of the Manhattan winery clerk face murder charges after he fatally stabbed a violent ex-offender who attacked him at his store hooked by him on Thursday, calling him “a good man.” “.
“This poor man doesn’t deserve that,” said Christopher C., who works in a store near Hamilton Heights, about winery worker Jose Alba, 61.
“He was self-defense and I don’t care what anyone says,” he told The Post. “The police have to do a deeper investigation because it’s not fair to him and his family. What if he was the one who lost his life?”
Patricia Perez, a regular customer of the Broadway winery, said Alba kept her peace at the store, even during the occasionally undisciplined night shift that was there.
“Actually, ridiculous things have happened,” Perez said outside the grocery store. “I’m very sad that he’s going through this. He’s just defending himself.”
Alba, a father of three from the Dominican Republic, was behind the counter shortly after 11pm on Friday when Austin Simon, 35, a former offender who was still on parole for assaulting a police officer, he stormed behind the counter and approached. he.
Patricia Pérez, a regular patron of Jose Alba’s winery, argued that the harassed worker was “defending” himself against former defender Austin Simon. Robert Miller Jose Alba enters the custody of the New York Sheriff’s Department on July 7, 2022. Alec Tabak
The wild video of the encounter shows Simon pushing the old man against the wall and then cutting him off while Alba tries to get over him, before he pulls out a knife and stabs Simon.
Simon was stabbed five times and then pronounced dead.
Police and prosecutors later charged Alba, who had a clear criminal record, with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon.
Surveillance video shows winery employee Jose Alba pulling out a knife after being attacked by Austin Simon.
For her customers, Alba just didn’t belong in the shackles.
“I do not understand why [he] he is accused of murder, ”said another regular who would only give his name as Juan, 37. “Now, imagine if I didn’t stab the boy? What if the boy also had a gun? The boy could have killed him too.
“It wasn’t going to end well in any way,” he added.
Several customers feared that Austin Simon might have killed winery worker Jose Alba.
Another local, who identified himself as Jeromy, said “I sell to this charcuterie all the time and this man is a very good man.”
“I know this man would never intentionally kill anyone,” Jeromy said of Dawn. “Maybe he didn’t feel safe. I don’t know, but this man is a great man. That’s unfortunate.”