SI pols: Clerk would be hero here
Staten Island pols on Saturday came to the defense of a Manhattan bodega clerk who faces murder charges for fighting off an assailant — saying he’d be cheered for such action in their borough instead of tossed in a jail cell on Rikers Island.
“In some parts of the world, that guy would be a hero for saving himself — he’d get a medal,” said Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella during a rally in support of bodega clerk Jose Alba outside an Eltingville bagel store.
“We can’t govern what happens in other parts of the city, but we can do it here,” Fossella said. “If things like this happened on Staten Island, [Alba wouldn’t] be going to Rikers.”
Fossella, Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon and some Staten Island small business operators also condemned controversial Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s office for not only socking Alba — who has no known criminal history — with second-degree for murder charges in the July 1 fatal stabbing of ex-con Austin Simon, but also initially seeking a sky high bail of $500,000.
Alba was sprung from Rikers Thursday — but only after a judge reduced his bail to $50,000.
McMahon said that the city needs more common-sense accountability to handle violent and repeat criminals, or citizens may have to protect themselves the way Alba did.
“If you’re under attack, whether it’s at home, at school or in your business, you have the right to defend yourself,” he said.
Bragg — who has earned a reputation since taking office of being soft on criminals — threw the book at Alba, 61, despite surveillance video showing Simon, 35, storming behind the counter at the Hamilton Heights Grocery on Broadway and West 139th Street to attack the store worker.