Prosecutors in New York City are requesting that murder charges against a bodega employee who fatally stabbed a man who physically assaulted him over a bag of chips be dropped.
According to court documents, the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office requested a judge on Tuesday to dismiss the charges against 61-year-old Jose Alba, who said he stabbed the man in self-defense.
After accusing Alba, Bragg received harsh criticism, including that of the city’s mayor, who claimed that the bodega worker had every right to defend himself.
On July 1, while working at the Blue Moon deli, Alba fatally stabbed Austin Simon in the neck and chest. Alba had been charged with second-degree murder.
Surveillance footage clearly showed that Simon, 37, had moved behind the counter at the convenience store in Hamilton Heights and pushed the store clerk into a stack of shelves before grabbing him.
It was only then that Alba reached over to a shelf and pulled out a knife to fight back.
Alba was allegedly stabbed by Simon’s girlfriend during the confrontation after her benefits card was turned down. Never being charged in the event was the girlfriend.
Prosecutors “have determined that we cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was not justified in his use of fatal bodily force,” according to the petition to dismiss filed on Tuesday.
The document said that the case will not be brought before a grand jury because “a homicide case against Alba could not be proven at trial beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The decision to drop the charges against Alba was condemned by Simon’s cousin Candra Simon, who claimed that it sets a “dangerous precedent.”
‘We are all clearly disappointed and can’t understand how it’s OK to take an unarmed man’s life,’ said Candra Simon, according to the New York Times.
Alba’s defense attorney did not immediately return a message seeking comment from DailyMail.com on Tuesday.
District Attorney Bragg had faced intense criticism after charging Alba, including from Mayor Eric Adams.
Alvin Bragg, a progressive district attorney, has received harsh criticism for accusing the bodega employee.
Although a court must confirm the progressive district attorney’s decision to drop the charges, Alba’s legal odyssey is most likely over.
Once video of Simon, who has already been found guilty of prior attacks, pushing Alba into a shelf surfaced, there was more pressure on Bragg to dismiss the charges against Alba.
The video captures the two scuffleing before Alba reaches for his knife and begins stabbing Simon.
Other recordings obtained by DailyMail.com depict Simon, who was on parole for assaulting a police officer at the time of his death, approaching Alba from behind the bodega counter.
‘Papa, I don’t want a problem, papa,’ Alba told him calmly.
Simon charged into the Blue Moon convenience store minutes after his girlfriend tried to buy a bag of chips for her daughter, but her electronic benefits card had been declined. 
Did you put food? is what the mother who said Alba took the child’s bag of chips can be heard asking Alba in the video.
Alba responds that he’ll give her card another chance.
“All right, mama, give it another shot. He replies, “My God,” when she says, “There’s money on there.”
But he keeps swiping the EBT card and handing it back to her, saying it’s broken.
The edited footage cuts to show other customers in the bodega as the woman is heard yelling out of view from the camera.
‘You can’t touch my daughter. Don’t snatch that out of my daughter, you f–king piece of shit!’
The woman had reported that Alba snatched the bag of chips from her daughter’s hands when they couldn’t pay.
She continues, ‘I’m gonna bring my n– down here and he gonna f–k you up. My n— is gonna come down here right now and f–k you up!’
Alba tells her it’s not his fault and the card wasn’t working.
Another woman asked, ‘Did they take something from you?’ Alba replied, ‘No, I take it back.’
Simon can then be seen on the video storming into the store and walking behind the counter where he confronts Alba.
‘What’s up with you? N****r what is wrong with you?’ he yells at him.
Simon then forces Alba into the bookcase. Alba retaliated by stabbing Simon in the heart, lung, and jugular vein, according to court documents.
It transitions to a bloodied Simon sprawled down on the bodega floor in the new video footage, and his girlfriend can be heard screaming, “That was over $3. Three f**king dollars.” He took something from my kid… Please assist him.
According to insiders, authorities believe the woman was defending her lover when she allegedly attacked the shop worker and was not punished.
Following the altercation, Simon was brought to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead; Alba was thrown in the city’s infamous Riker’s Island prison on murder charges.
He was originally being held on a $250,000 bond, but the district attorney’s office lowered to $50,000 amid the growing outrage.
Among those who expressed their support for Alba was New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, who even visited the bodega to offer his support.
‘I’m a person that’s there for people following the law. I saw from the video, I saw a voter here inside the store following the law…It’s time for New Yorkers and Americans to start standing up for people who follow the law,’ he said.
Lee Zeldin, a candidate for governor in the Republican party, also criticized Bragg for charging Alba, writing on Twitter: “My first Day 1 Action as Governor next January will be to Fire Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg.”
Because they worry that the victim’s buddies may come and hurt him, Alba’s coworkers at the bodega stated they won’t let him come back to work.
‘We’re not letting him come back,’ a Blue Moon Convenience store worker named ‘Wilson’ told the New York Post.
Wilson said the ‘friends and family’ of the slain man now know where Alba works and his coworkers fear it’s a ‘death sentence’ if he returns to his post.