Say adios to bodega guy
The Hamilton Heights bodega clerk who was charged with murder after fatally stabbing an assailant last month has had it with the crime-ridden Big Apple and is returning to his native Dominican Republic, pals told The Post on Friday.
Jose Alba, 61, “doesn’t work here anymore. He’s getting ready to move out of the country,” said the manager of the Blue Moon Convenience Store on Broadway at West 139th Street.
The manager, who declined to give his name, said Alba was headed to Santiago, a city in the Caribbean nation where he is originally from.
Alba fatally stabbed Austin Simon, 31, at the bodega on July 1 after the customer came behind the counter and attacked him following a dispute with Simon’s girlfriend.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office charged Alba with second-degree murder before dropping the charge amid widespread outrage.
Alba was also initially jailed until prosecutors agreed to lower his bail.
Now the former clerk is on a “hiatus” following his ordeal, said Francisco Marte, head of the Bodega and Small Business Association, which has been helping him.
“He went upstate to get away from everything,” Marte said.
“He is not going back to work at the bodega. He is taking a break fighting with his trauma, and he said he is afraid for his life.
“He is trying to get back to normal, but he said it’s very hard when you have flashbacks of what happened. We are getting him professional help, and then [he will] decide whether he goes back to the DR for good or just spends some time there.”