A Manhattan bottle worker accused of murder tried to avoid the confrontation that landed him behind bars after fatally stabbing a customer, new video shows.
“Dad, I don’t want trouble, dad,” Jose Alba, 61, calmly tells an angry Austin Simon as the man walks behind the Hamilton Heights deli, the footage shows.
The video, obtained by The Post, reveals for the first time the words exchanged between Alba and Simon before the fatal encounter, which has sparked public outrage over whether the official, who faces murder charges, was trying to defend himself.
Simon, 35, burst into the Blue Moon convenience store on July 1, five minutes after his girlfriend tried to buy a bag of crisps for her daughter and her electronic benefits card was rejected. The woman claims that Alba grabbed the breakfast from the girl.
“Did you put food in?” the girlfriend can be heard on video asking Alba as he announced the sale.
“Okay mom, let me do it another time. Oh my God,” says Alba.
“There’s money there,” she insists.
The video, obtained by The Post, reveals for the first time the words exchanged between Jose Alba and Austin Simon.
The footage, which was edited out, then pans to other customers and the woman screams off camera: “You can’t touch my daughter. Don’t take that away from my daughter, you motherfucker!’
The footage does not show Alba distributing the chips.
The woman continues by saying, “I’m going to bring my p– down here and he’s going to screw you. My n— is going to come down here right now and fuck you…!”
Alba says, “It’s not my fault, it’s not working.” He continues to make sales calls, telling one client of his girlfriend, “She’s got no money.”
Another woman asked, “Did they take anything from you?”
Jose Alba, who suffered stab wounds in the attack allegedly by Simon’s girlfriend, was released from Rikers Island late Thursday. Alec Tabak for the NY Post
Alba replied: “No, I’m taking it back.”
Simon can then be seen walking in and immediately going behind the counter.
“What’s wrong with you? W—-what’s wrong with you?” he demands.
Alba, 51, who was in the middle of calling a woman, held out his left hand as Simon approached him. The customer stretches across the counter as if trying to get Simon’s attention.
Austin Simon, 35, broke into the Blue Moon convenience store on July 1.
The fatal stabbing was redacted from the transcript obtained by The Post. But previously released video showed Simon pushing Alba into a chair before the two men began fighting and Simon was stabbed.
The video shows a bloodied Simon lying on the floor of the bodega as his girlfriend yells, “That was over $3. Three royal dollars. He grabbed something from my daughter… please help him.
NYPD officers arrive and take Alba away.
Alba, who suffered stab wounds in the attack allegedly by Simon’s girlfriend, was released from Rikers Island late Thursday after prosecutors agreed to reduce his $250,000 bail.
“I’m sorry, I’m not talking to anyone. Talk to my lawyer,” Alba said through the door Saturday.
Francisco Marte, the founder of Bodega and Small Business Group, said Alba was “very sorry for what happened.”
“He knew his life was in danger. He was defending himself … otherwise we would have buried him today,” Marte said.
Osama Aldabiani, 35, who owns the bottle, said Alba did not want to risk going back to work.
Aldabiani said he was haunted by what happened and scared of possible retaliation from Simon’s friends after he claimed to have seen two of them in a car outside the store.
“I fear for my life,” he said.
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