NYC attorneys say deli worker, 61, who fatally stabbed younger attacker in self-defense went overboard: Report

New York City attorneys said the 61-year-old deli worker who two years ago fatally stabbed his attacker in self-defense went overboard, according to the New York Post.

What's the background?

Video showed 35-year-old Austin Simon going behind the counter of a Harlem deli on July 1, 2022, and physically attacking a worker there, Jose Alba. Simon was angry that Alba took potato chips from the 10-year-old daughter of Simon's girlfriend, whose benefits card failed to work in the transaction.

Video also shows Alba pleading with Simon, "I don't want a problem," before Simon aggressively shoved Alba into store shelves and grabbed him by the neck. Simon then began to walk Alba from the area behind the counter.

With that, Alba grabbed a knife.

“He wanted me to come apologize to the girl,” Alba told a New York City police detective, according to the New York Daily News. “I took the knife we use to open boxes, and I stabbed him.” The Daily News said Alba stabbed Simon at least five times in the neck and chest.

The paper — citing the criminal complaint — added that Simon’s girlfriend grabbed a knife from her purse and stabbed Alba in the arm.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office faced intense criticism for charging Alba with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon, sending him to notorious Rikers Island, and setting his bail at $250,000. One of Alba's defenders was Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who called Alba "innocent."

Soon, Alba was released on a reduced $50,000 bail and maintained he was defending himself against Simon. Bragg's office soon dropped all charges against Alba in the face of continued public pressure.

After Alba sued Bragg and the NYPD for civil rights violations last fall, New York City lawyers in December urged a federal judge to dismiss his lawsuit, Fox News reported. The attorneys' court filing indicated that "under the circumstances there was sufficient probable cause to arrest and prosecute Mr. Alba," a city Law Department spokesman said at the time, according to Fox News.

NYC attorneys had previously stated "it was entirely reasonable to believe" that Alba "unnecessarily escalated the confrontation between himself and Mr. Simon — even if it was Mr. Simon who initiated the confrontation," the cable network said.

Now what?

Alba has argued there was no reason to arrest and prosecute him given that he was acting in self-defense. But the Post reported that city attorneys in federal court papers filed in March said "considering the events that led to plaintiff stabbing Mr. Simon, that is an extreme position."

“Mr. Simon pushed [Alba] once and grabbed him by the collar to escort him outside for the expressed purpose of having him apologize to” his girlfriend, the attorneys added, according to the Post. “While the District Attorney’s Office found it would be difficult to disprove justification beyond a reasonable doubt, it was not unreasonable to arrest plaintiff in the first place.”

Here's a Fox News report that aired after Alba filed his lawsuit:

Ex-bodega worker suing NYC over ‘racial equity policies’youtu.be

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