Progressive Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has dropped 2nd-degree murder charges against 61-year-old bodega worker Joe Alba, who was assaulted July 1 and defended himself with a knife. While this is good news, Alba never should have been charged in the first place—he was fighting for his life.

For that “crime,” Bragg promptly sent him to the notorious Riker’s Island jail for surviving. Worse still, the attacker’s girlfriend stabbed Alba three times in the arm during the melee, but Bragg decided not to charge her because she was acting in self-defense.

It’s an upside-down world we’re living in, folks. Criminals are lauded, while the innocent are persecuted.

Just look at the recent outrage pouring out over the Good Samaritan who shot and killed a mass shooter in an Indiana mall on Sunday. Instead of celebrating the hero, many in the media and the Democrat party are vilifying him for daring to carry a gun. They’d rather more people be slain by the mass shooter than have an armed citizen save lives.

My colleague strieff expertly breaks down the bodega fight here. The video, meanwhile, is hard to watch (Warning, graphic footage):

Might be late with this video.. New footage shows Jose Alba stabbed by female customer while he is fighting the guy behind the counter.. That is how he got the injury on his arm! #JoseAlba #NYC #Bodega #NYCcrime pic.twitter.com/jWW5uBzFbF

— YouDontHaveToWatch (@StarsAndBars123) July 11, 2022

What’s clear here is that the 61-year-old, 5′ 7″ Alba was attacked by 35-year-old, 6-foot violent parolee Austin Simon. Alba fought him off with a knife, ultimately killing him. Alba was ordered held under $250,000 bail, down from the staggering $500,000 initially requested by Bragg, sent to Riker’s Island, and charged with 2nd-degree murder in an outrageous prosecutorial overreach. The bail was eventually lowered, but Tuesday the actual (ridiculous) charges were finally dropped after enormous public outcry.

Per Fox News:

Following an investigation, the People have determined that we cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was not justified in his use of deadly physical force. [emphasis mine]

As such, the People will not be presenting the case to a Grand Jury and for the reasons provided in the attached memorandum, hereby move to dismiss the complaint,” Bragg’s office wrote in court documents obtained by Fox News.

You can bet they sure tried like heck to find a way to prove Alba was guilty. The facts were just not on their side.

Bragg’s office finally had to admit that self-defense was justified, writing in their dismissal memo:

One potential defense is that Alba reasonably believed that Simon was about to use deadly physical force.

The law provides that a person may use deadly physical force to defend oneself if the person reasonably believes that another person is using or about to use deadly physical force.

We have written extensively here at RedState regarding the immense societal damage being wrought by progressive prosecutors George Gascon of LA (currently facing recall), Chesa Boudin of San Francisco (recently recalled), and Alvin Bragg of Manhattan. This rogues gallery certainly doesn’t include every dangerous DA out there currently, but these three are the worst of the worst. Look what’s happened to the formerly great city of New York:

It’s not difficult to turn this all around quickly, but it will require us to remove rogue DAs like Alvin Bragg, back the blue, repeal cashless bail, & reverse other pro-criminal policies. It all starts November 8 at the ballot box when we fire Kathy Hochul & end 1-party rule. pic.twitter.com/MsQypYpFrM

— Lee Zeldin (@leezeldin) July 19, 2022

The good news is that people are finally waking up to the carnage these criminal-loving DAs have unleashed upon their cities and are staging recalls, protests, and in general, speaking out more. This bodega worker never should have been charged in the first place, while the attacker’s girlfriend who stabbed Alba three times surely should have.

Woke prosecutors are waging a war against crime victims. Let’s get rid of them once and for all.