NEW YORK – The altercation and death inside a Hamilton Heights winery on July 1 were headlines everywhere. An employee stabbed a patron and was imprisoned on Rikers Island and then released.
On Tuesday, the charges were dropped.
READ MORE: Hamilton Heights Warehouse Detainee Arrested for Murder Tells CBS2 to Act in Self-Defense
The video clearly shows Jose Alba, 61, stabbing Austin Simon, 35, inside the Blue Moon convenience store, but Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said his office could not prove further of any reasonable doubt that the incident was a homicide and that Alba. it may have been justified in its use of deadly physical force.
Winery workers and more had backed Alba, asking Bragg to step down.
“We are very happy,” said Francisco Marte of the Bodega & Small Business Association. “When Alvin Bragg called me to explain the case to me, I felt he was giving us the respect we deserve.”
“It was clearly not a murder case in every sense of the word,” David Schwartz, director of the New York Grocery Store Association, told Ali Bauman of CBS2.
Some lawmakers said the case should never have gotten to that point.
“Jose Alba should never have been charged and sent to Rikers Island in the first place. This was a clear case of an innocent man acting in self-defense. Fortunately, security cameras captured the entire incident on video or Alba could very well continue.Today she will face the homicide charge.This video evidence is the biggest reason Alvin Bragg was so wrong in putting Alba through the doorbell while he was doing it, accusing- the murder, sending him to Rikers Island with an open stab. and refusing to accuse the person who stabbed Alba, “said Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Republican candidate for governor.
“While today’s news that charges will be dropped against Mr. Alba is a major victory for justice, what our city desperately needs is for DA Bragg to properly charge criminals to prevent residents they have to resort to self-defense, ”MP Nicole Malliotakis said. .
READ MORE: Winery owners and elected officials demonstrate on Staten Island in defense of Jose Alba, the winery clerk who fatally stabbed the attacker
Mayor Eric Adams spoke about the DA’s decision Tuesday afternoon.
“I think in this case we had an innocent, hardworking New Yorker doing his job and someone was extremely aggressive with him. And I think after the prosecutor’s review, the prosecutor, in my opinion, made the right decision.” said Adams.
Legal expert Dmitriy Shakhnevich told Bauman that he believes Simon’s lack of a gun is the reason the prosecutor took so long to make his decision.
“There was a one-way gun and as long as there’s a one-way gun that raises the self-defense denial flag, as we like to say, and that’s what happened here,” he said. Shakhevich.
He also said that now that the charges have been dropped, it is possible that Alba could file a civil rights lawsuit, but he believes that in this case it would be a difficult lawsuit to win.
Dave Carlin of CBS2 spoke with longtime residents in Hamilton Heights, where the Blue Moon is located.
“He didn’t plan it. He didn’t get up and say, ‘I’m going to kill someone today.’ That wasn’t his goal,” Yvonne Sonera said.
“As a store owner, I think they have a right to defend themselves. But to murder? It’s a very difficult situation, honestly,” Michelle Delgado said.
“This is a situation, for example, that doesn’t win because … the victim’s family won’t be happy about it,” said a man named Reggie.
They are not.
“My cousin was a father. My cousin had people who loved him. He had a family,” Candra Simon said.
The new information in the dismissal motion says the discussion began when Simon’s girlfriend was unable to pay for the snack her daughter wanted. Alba allegedly took the snack from the boy’s hand. Simon returned later and apologized, prompting the confrontation.
READ MORE: Exclusive: Hamilton Heights winery employee arrested for murder says he acted in self-defense during last week’s incident
Alba, who has said very little about the case, recently showed CBS2 her wounds, but not her face. Her daughter translated a comment from her.
“He put himself in a position where he didn’t know how it would end. He was just defending his life,” Alba’s daughter said.
“It took the life of a man who didn’t have a gun drawn. I don’t understand how people don’t understand how we feel, how they can’t understand that we feel that’s not right,” Candra Simon said. “And he will walk for it and return to the community as if nothing had happened. I think that sets a very dangerous precedent.”
READ MORE: United Bodegas of America joins calls to drop charges against José Alba, winery worker accused of murder
Hamilton Heights residents said they are concerned about the current state of the city.
“I think the whole city has gone crazy and I think everyone is at the end of their wits. No one has any coping mechanism anymore and everyone is off the bottom,” Delgado said.
“He took it to a level that he is sure to regret now and he will surely live there, which will not be good, so there is already enough punishment,” Sonera added.
Jessica Moore
Jessica Moore is an Emmy Award-winning presenter for weekend night news on CBS 2 and WLNY 10/55. Moore joined the stations in July 2016.