A George Soros-funded district attorney in New York has met with major backlash over his harsh treatment of an elderly bodega clerk who defended himself against an attacker.
Jose Alba, a 61-year-old man who emigrated legally from the Dominican Republic 30 years ago, was working at a Manhattan convenience store on July 1 when Austin Simon, a 35-year-old career criminal who was already on parole for attacking a police officer, went behind the counter and began assaulting him.
But Alba, who became a legalized U.S. citizen 14 years ago, was not going to be a pushover. He grabbed a knife and fought back, stabbing Simon at least five times, according to the New York Post. Alba was reportedly stabbed several times in return by Simon’s girlfriend who had accompanied the thug into the store.
Based on video of the incident, it seems pretty clear that Alba was defending himself from a violent aggressor.
Police were called to the scene and found Simon bleeding out. But instead of arresting the woman who allegedly stabbed the clerk, they arrested Alba.
That’s right. In New York City, you apparently must allow yourself to be beaten without ever lifting a finger to protect yourself.
It got even worse for Alba once Democratic DA Alvin Bragg got in on the act. Bragg hit Alba with some of the most outrageous penalties he could manage, sending him to Rikers Island on a sky-high $250,000 bail — half of what Bragg had requested — and charging him with second-degree murder. The stiff charge could send Alba to jail for up to 25 years.
Bragg was the happy recipient of a $1 million campaign donation from Soros, the infamous anti-American billionaire, according to The Washington Free Beacon.
The extreme punishment Alba suffered shocked everyone, including his son, Danny.
“It hurts me knowing that a man cannot defend himself within his own community without being made to look like a villain,” Danny wrote on a GoFundMe page meant to raise money for his father’s defense.
“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,” Danny added.
To add insult to injury, GoFundMe pulled Alba’s page and denied him the tens of thousands of dollars that had already been raised, The Washington Times reported. The company said its terms of service “prohibit fundraising for the legal defense of a violent crime.”
“Jose Alba should be getting a Congressional Medal of Honor,” former mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa said. “Instead, he’s locked up on Rikers and this is all Alvin Bragg. He turns loose real criminals and he incarcerates victims who fight back. What kind of a message is this?”
Democratic Mayor Eric Adams also voiced support for Alba, saying, “My heart goes out for that hard-working, honest New Yorker that was doing his job in his place of business.”
Despite the entire left-wing establishment in New York aligning to destroy this poor guy, one judge was shocked by Bragg’s treatment of Alba. On Thursday, he canceled the $250,000 bail and instead filed a $50,000 bail in the case, allowing Alba to leave jail. His case will be presented to a grand jury on July 20.
To review, a man who legally immigrated to the U.S. and then became a citizen, and who defended himself from a man with years of violent crimes under his belt — that is the man Bragg and New York’s entire “justice” system wants to jail for more than two decades.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
