The manslaughter charge Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought against bodega worker Jose Alba is the latest outrage stemming from the progressive agenda the attorney general unveiled after taking office in January, current and former city cops said Thursday .
Former cop Eugene O’Donnell, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said the case was an “agenda crime” being pursued by Bragg — noting that Alba “had little choice” when former inmate Austin Simon attacked him behind the counter of his Hamilton Heights store Friday night.
“This is an office that is full of dumb interpretations and weird agendas,” O’Donnell said.
“The prosecutor himself is surrounded by people who think that behind every profitable business there is a crime.”
A veteran city cop fumed: “So the guy who was defending himself is in Rikers and the repeat offender guys are on the street?”
“Bragg needs to be suspended,” the cop said.
“We always knew that Bragg was for criminals. I guess he just put his stamp on it.
Jose Alba defended his bodega after Austin Simon attacked him.
Another source said the clerk “didn’t start a fight” when Simon entered the store Friday after his girlfriend accused Alba of grabbing a bag of potato chips from her daughter’s hand when the mother’s food stamp card was was electronically rejected as payment.
“This guy got up and went to work and had to be attacked. Will he go to jail now? the source said of Alba.
“They should give him the key to the city.”
“We always knew that Bragg was for criminals. I guess he just put his stamp on it,” said former NYPD officer Eugene O’Donnell. C-Span.org
Bragg’s decision to charge Alba with second-degree murder came after he repeatedly drew criticism by downgrading charges or reducing bail for other defendants under the controversial “Day One” soft-crime directives he gave to Manhattan prosecutors.
These cases include:
- Career criminal Christian Hall had a robbery charge reduced to petty theft and was released without bail after he allegedly threatened workers at a TJ Maxx store in Chelsea on January 6 with a pair of scissors. He was arrested again on February 9 in an unprovoked fist attack on a city sanitation worker in the same neighborhood.
- Former inmate William Rolon also has a robbery charge reduced to petit larceny after he allegedly threatened a Lower East Side drugstore clerk with a knife while stealing $2,000 worth of merchandise on Jan. 8. that he should “feel lucky” because the “newly elected district attorney has new policies” and Rolon otherwise “would be facing a long period of time in prison if convicted.”
- Marcus Wright took the deal after he was accused of stealing nearly $1,400 worth of merchandise from Frame, a boutique in Soho, on April 24. Less than a month later, Wright was arrested again for allegedly punching a woman in the face during a random attack on May 13 while she was looking at her mobile phone in Chelsea.
O’Donnell traced the “root” of Simon’s fatal stabbing to the “total collapse of the rule of law” in the Big Apple.
“When you disempower — cripple — the police, it falls on the shoulders of ordinary New Yorkers,” he said.
“These disputes are widespread, ugly and potentially deadly. People get on the buses and say, “I’m not paying my fare.” People go into stores, take whatever they want, use cards that are invalid, ask for merchandise.
New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Alba with second-degree murder — despite repeatedly letting career criminals walk free.AP/Mary Altaffer
O’Donnell added: “It’s on the shoulders of the people – particularly the prosecutors – and those who say we’re better off without the police.”
Bragg’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
Prosecutors initially requested that Alba be held on $500,000 bail at his arraignment Saturday, citing a planned trip to the Dominican Republic next week as evidence that he is a flight risk. The judge set his bail at $250,000.
In court Thursday, prosecutors said they had negotiated a new bail package with Alba’s defense attorney, and a judge agreed to the new amount of $50,000 — allowing Alba’s relatives and boss to contribute the $5,000 needed for his bail.
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