NYC Bodega Worker Free On Bail As Eric Adams Defends Stabbing

NEW YORK CITY — A Harlem bodega worker accused of stabbing a violent customer is free on bail amid a vocal chorus of New Yorkers, including Mayor Eric Adams, who see the case as clear-cut self-defense.

Jose Alba, 51, posted a $5,000 bond Thursday, allowing him to walk free until a potential trial on a murder charge, according to court records. His bail originally stood at $250,000, but a judge lowered it as a furor grew over the case.

Police said Alba fatally stabbed Austin Simon, 37, during a July 1 fight inside the Hamilton Heights bodega where Alba worked. But further details and video obtained by the New York Post prompted many to view Simon as the aggressor and Alba as acting in self-defense.

Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday entered the fray by declaring in a news conference outside the bodega that Alba was a New Yorker doing his job.

"I think it's time for New Yorkers and Americans to start standing up for people to follow the law," he said in a video posted on his official Twitter account.

The fight began over a bag of chips, New York Daily News reported.

Alba snatched the bag from Simon's girlfriend's young daughter — after her mother proved unable to pay — which prompted Simon to jump behind the bodega counter, according to the News.

Video published by the News shows Simon shoving Alba and grabbing him by the throat. It's then that Alba plunges a knife into Simon's side and neck, according to the video.

Medics rushed Simon to a nearby hospital where he died, authorities said.

NYPD officers arrested Simon, but the New York Post's report showing the video — and the tabloid's subsequent editorializing that "self-defense isn't a crime" — appeared to galvanize many New Yorkers.

Alba is next due in court July 20.