Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office will not be prosecuting a parking garage attendant who shot a suspected thief after first getting shot by him.
The facts in the case, as reported, show Moussa Diarra, 57, acted in self-defense after confronting 59-year-old alleged thief Charles Rhodie early Saturday morning.
The New York Post reported that Diarra spotted Rhodie peering into cars and walked up to him asking to know what was in a bag he was carrying.
Rhodie allegedly responded by pulling a gun out of the bag and shooting the attendant twice, once in the stomach and the ear.
Diarra managed to wrest the gun away from his attacker and shot him in the chest.
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Justified self-defense, right?
Shot NYC parking-garage worker weeps while cuffed to bed https://t.co/9Y73Fok3UW pic.twitter.com/Wq2cRiT1kl
— New York Post (@nypost) April 2, 2023
New York police did not see it that way, charging both men with attempted murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon. Cops threw in attempted burglary in Rhodie’s case too.
“An NYPD rep said Sunday that the cops’ decision to also charge Diarra was made ‘with the guidance of the DA’s office’ and referred further questions to prosecutors,” according to the Post.
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“I got bullets in me, and I’m chained to a hospital bed, but I didn’t do anything wrong,” Diarra said after police charged him, according to Meyers Parking’s Chief Operating Officer Michael Carolan, who spoke to the news outlet.
Bragg’s office told the Post that the case against Diarra will now be dismissed “pending further investigation.”
One Twitter user argued that even charging the attendant, who was just trying to do his job, sends a message to the city.
“The purpose of Alvin Bragg charging a victim like Moussa Diarra is to send a message that New Yorkers shouldn’t fight back. That we should sit tight & accept crime. If someone breaks into a car & steals you should do nothing & let the criminals run wild. That’s what they want,” the user tweeted.
The purpose of Alvin Bragg charging a victim like Moussa Diarra is to send a message that New Yorkers shouldn’t fight back. That we should sit tight & accept crime. If someone breaks into a car & steals you should do nothing & let the criminals run wild. That’s what they want. https://t.co/A4gqDqoEM1
— Izengabe (@Izengabe_) April 2, 2023
The Diarra case bears some similarities to 61-year-old Manhattan bodega worker Jose Alba’s last summer.
Bragg’s office charged Alba with murder after he stabbed and killed Austin Simon, who had assaulted Alba behind the counter at the store.
61-year-old bodega worker Jose Alba was attacked by an enraged career criminal, Austin Simon, who went behind the counter and choked him over a bag of chips. Alba defended himself, and Simon died. DA Alvin Bragg has charged him with murder. pic.twitter.com/FIfL1O1q7X
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) July 7, 2022
Bragg ultimately dropped those charges following widespread outcry.
The DA’s judgment has also been called into question over his decision to charge former President Donald Trump, allegedly over hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal before the 2016 election.
Bragg’s reportedly basing the charges on misdemeanor business records violations and trying to categorize the payments as a donation in-kind to Trump’s campaign by his then-personal attorney Michael Cohen.
Federal prosecutors and the Federal Election Commission have already reviewed the payments and declined to charge Trump because the case is so weak.
It’s an obvious political hit job by Bragg.
Meanwhile, crime was up overall 22 percent in 2022 in New York City.
Bragg’s office only had a 51 percent conviction rate in felony cases, down from 68 percent in 2019 under then-Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr.
Further, Bragg’s prosecutors downgraded felony charges to misdemeanors 52 percent of the time versus 39 percent in 2019.
Here’s some advice: focus on prosecuting criminals, and not those trying to stop them.
That will go a long way to restoring law and order to the streets of New York.
