The girlfriend of a thug who was stabbed to death by a bodega store worker he attacked has not been charged because prosecutors feel she was defending her beau, insiders have claimed.
The 32-year-old woman, who has not been named, has yet to be arrested over knifing Jose Alba three times during the violent assault in Manhattan on July 1.
Shocking footage shows her brawling with the 61-year-old clerk after calling her boyfriend Austin Simon who hopped the counter and pounced on him.
But Alba managed to grab a sharp object and plunge it into Simon’s neck and chest in self defense before being arrested and charged with murder.
Now, insiders claim the girlfriend has not been charged for attacking the shop worker because prosecutors think she was defending her boyfriend.
It comes as New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been accused in recent weeks of having a soft-on-crime approach to tackling violent offenders.
This is the moment bodega worker Jose Alba was stabbed in the arm by the girlfriend of the gangster he stabbed to death on July 1 in a row over a bag of potato chips
The woman produced her own knife from her bag and stabbed Alba in the arm while he fought off her boyfriend
Jose Alba, 61, is back at home in New York City after being released from Rikers Island on a lower bond last week. He is pictured here with one of the wounds he sustained fighting off the vicious attacker
Alba (pictured today) had just refused to give Simon’s girlfriend a bag of chips. She tried to pay for the $3 snack but her card was declined
A police source told the New York Post: ‘The DA’s office looked at the tape, and they felt she was defending her boyfriend. They didn’t feel charges were necessary.’
The move incensed Alba’s supporters who could not grasp why she has escaped justice when the store worker faces prison.
Francisco Marte of the Bodega and Small Business Association Group said: ‘I don’t understand why the [district attorney] hasn’t charged her.
‘She participated in that. She’s supposed to be in jail and the $250,000 bail [Alba once faced] should be on her, not on him. He was just defending himself.’
Defense lawyer Michael Discioarro added: ‘I have no idea why she’s not charged. Her boyfriend was the aggressor. She does not get to protect the aggressor.
‘We’re getting a good look at how the system works for the average person,’ he said. ‘Imagine if there was no video.
‘Jose Alba would never be released from Rikers, and [Simon’s girlfriend] would testify against him, likely perjuring herself.’
Jose Alba, 61, shows DailyMail.com his injuries on Monday after being released on a lowered bond. He says he was fighting for his life
Alba did not want to show his face on Monday but he spoke to reporters to ask for forgiveness from Simon’s mother. ‘I know this pain because I lost a son,’ he said
Alba, 61, had his arm slashed in the attack by the man’s girlfriend. She has not been named or arrested
It comes as Alba is back at home in New York City after being released from Rikers Island on a lower bond last week.
On July 1, he stabbed Simon in the neck and chest in self-defense after Simon charged into the store to confront him.
Alba had just refused to give Simon’s girlfriend a bag of chips. She tried to pay for the $3 snack but her card was declined.
On Monday, he did not wish to have his face photographed but he showed off his injuries at his New York City apartment.
They include a graze on the upper arm, deep bruises and a gash on his shoulder. It comes after new surveillance video emerged showing how the woman attacked him with her own knife while he tried to fight off her boyfriend.
He spoke softly from behind the door of his apartment to ask for forgiveness from Simon’s family.
‘I didn’t think this would happen. At that moment, I was in shock. I didn’t know what to do and what to say. I feel very sad.’
‘I didn’t want to do this. This happened. I don’t know in the moment how this happened.
‘But I’m also sad. I know what the pain is because I also lost my son. Please forgive me because I didn’t want to do that.’
Alba had a cut on his arm which was the result of Simon’s girlfriend attacking him first, his family say
Video footage reveals the bodega worker Jose Alba was trying to avoid confrontation with Austin Simon in the minutes leading up to the July 1 stabbing
Alba’s supporters, who include Mayor Eric Adams, say it’s a clear case of self-defense and that he should never have been arrested.
After widespread public outrage last week, Alba’s bond was lowered from $250,000 to $50,000 and he was let go after posting the required 10 percent.
Other videos obtained by DailyMail.com show Simon – who was on parole for attacking a police officer when he died – marching behind the bodega counter to confront Alba.
‘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 benefits card was declined.
The woman, who claimed Alba snatched the bag of chips from the child, is heard on the video asking Alba, ‘Did you put food?’
Alba responds that he’ll try her card another time.
‘OK, mama, let me do it another time. My God,’ he says to her as she insists, ‘There’s money on there.’
But he scans the card multiple times and hands it back to her telling her it’s not working.
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 that it’s not his fault and that the card was not working.
Simon charged into the Blue Moon convenience store minutes after his girlfriend tried to buy a bag of chips for her daughter but her benefits card was declined
The woman had called Simon for back-up after her card was declined paying for a bag of chips
The woman is shown afterwards gesturing to the paramedics who arrived to tend to her boyfriend
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.
In previous footage that was released, the fight between the two men breaks out when Simon goes behind the counter and is seen pushing Alba into a chair.
Alba grabbed the store’s box cutting knife to stab him in the neck and chest. Simon later died in the hospital.
In the new video footage, it cuts to show bloody Simon splayed out on the bodega floor. His girlfriend is heard yelling, ‘That was over $3. Three f–king dollars. He snatched something out of my daughter…please help him.’
Alba was released from Rikers Island on Thursday evening after his bail was lowered from $250,000 to $50,000, and returned to his Hamilton Heights home wearing an electronic monitor and accompanied by one of his sons. He was only required to pay $5,000.
Osamah Aldhabyani, 35, who owns the bodega told The Post that he was haunted by what happened and worried about possible retaliation from Simon’s friends after, he claims that he saw two of them in a car outside the store.
‘I’m scared for my life,’ he said.
Alba’s fellow bodega workers said they will not let him return to work because they fear the victim’s friends will come to harm him.
New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been accused in recent weeks of having a soft-on-crime approach to tackling violent offenders
‘We’re not letting him come back,’ a Blue Moon Convenience store worker named Wilson told the New York Post.
Wilson said his victim’s ‘friends and family’ now know where Alba works and his coworkers fear it’s a ‘death sentence’ if he returns to his post.
Wilson said he is now scared that he could face a similar situation to Alba if he were forced to protect himself.
‘Why is [Alba] getting charged? He was working. Now that makes workers even more scared. This could happen to me. We out here working. We feel scared. We have to protect ourselves,’ he told the New York Post.
‘He wasn’t looking for trouble, he was working. What is he supposed to do? That guy could have done anything…[Alba] is an old man. It’s not fair.’
Wilson also expressed fear over the growing gun problem in New York City, saying he didn’t know ‘who has a gun’ in the neighborhood. He also said that all the workers are trying to do is ‘make money and serve the community,’ not deal with violence.
‘They should consider self-defense,’ another employee Escoo told the Post. ‘We are risking our lives serving the community.’
Alba was thrown in jail and held on a $250,000 bond after prosecutors from Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s office asked for double that, despite letting other career criminals loose.
Following a resounding outrage over the decision, a Manhattan judge finally lowered Alba’s bond today and he was released to his home.
