Jose Alba, the bodega worker who was charged with murder after fatally stabbing an assailant inside the store, plans to sue the city for wrongfully prosecuting him and for the time he spent in jail at Rikers Island before his case was dropped.
Alba’s attorney, Imran Ansari, has confirmed that his client will file the lawsuit next month. Alba filed notices of claim against the city and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in September 2022 for $10 million, alleging they wrongfully brought a case against him for fatally stabbing ex-con Austin Simon in self-defense on July 1, 2022.
The notices of claim state that the NYPD botched the investigation and withheld critical evidence from the DA’s office that would have cleared Alba’s name.
Alba also filed a notice of claim against the city Health and Hospitals Corporation, claiming that during his time in jail at Rikers, he wasn’t given proper medical treatment for his stab wounds, one of which became infected.
The hardworking clerk spent six nights at the troubled lockup before prosecutors in District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office agreed to lower his $250,000 bail. The second-degree murder charges were dropped by the DA on July 19 amid growing pressure and outrage from the public over his innocence.
According to Alba, his case was mishandled from start to finish. The police arrived at the scene in Hamilton Heights and failed to take witness statements, including from himself, according to the claim papers.
Instead, the police “relied solely on the incredible word” of Simon’s girlfriend – Tina Lee – who stabbed Alba in the melee. Cops also neglected to look at video of the incident “which was available, and which clearly showed there was no criminal liability on the part of Alba,” the filling alleges.
The police then “failed to present all relevant and exculpatory information to the NY County District Attorney’s Office and withheld exculpatory information,” the claim states.
The DA’s office, based on the information from cops, brought “the highest charge possible” against Alba and asked for extremely high bail “so that Alba would be punished regardless of the facts of the case,” the filing states.
Prosecutors also “decided not to arrest Tina Lee who had no reasonable basis to stab Alba,” the claim says. Alba plans to sue for claims including false arrest, malicious prosecution, withholding exculpatory information, and unconstitutional conditions of confinement.