News/Commentary

Bragg changes course, dismisses case against wounded NYC garage attendant who shot suspected thief

April 3, 2023 | | Print Article

Embattled Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has done a 180, his office announcing that it will dismiss the case against a parking garage attendant who shot a suspected thief after being shot twice himself.

Moussa Diarra, 57, was initially facing charges of attempted murder, assault, and gun possession after was shot twice by serial criminal and alleged thief Charles Rhodie, 59, on Saturday. Diarra snatched the handgun from Rhodie and returned fire, hitting Rhodie in the chest.

Police sources say Rhodie boasts 20 prior arrests, the majority of which were for petit larceny, according to the New York Post. Diarra, on the other hand, has no priors.

On Sunday, Bragg’s office told The Post that it is declining to prosecute Diarra, “pending further investigation.”

Diarra’s lawyer, Charles Clayman, praised the decision.

“We are more than pleased with the result,” he told the outlet.

As for the police’s arrest of his client, Clayman says they were just doing their job.

“I think what they wanted to do was sort things out, and both men had been shot,” he said. “And they just didn’t have time just to start talking to witnesses at that point.”

The arrest of Diarra was made “with the guidance of the DA’s office,” an NYPD rep said on Sunday, before referring all other questions to the prosecutors.

“By this morning, people understood exactly what had happened,” Clayman explained, “what a hero and victim my client was. Obviously not the perpetrator. So all’s well that ends well.”

“We were in constant touch with the DA, and I just think that the police on the scene felt that that was the right thing to do,” he continued. “And then things would be sorted out by the DA, and I believe that’s what happened.”

According to The Post, at approximately 5:30 a.m. on Saturday, Rhodie was looking into the cars that were parked inside the West 31st Street garage when Diarra spotted him. The attendant confronted the suspect and demanded a look inside his bag, police sources said.

That’s when Rhodie allegedly pulled his gun and shot Diarra twice. Somehow, the victim managed to get the gun away from his assailant and fired.

Rhodie was also charged with attempted murder, assault, and gun possession, as well as a burglary charge.

Mariame Diarra, no relation, is a family friend of the victim.

“That’s self-defense. The guy tried to rob his business,” she said, according to the Daily Mail. “Why DA want to charge him with attempted murder? He’s there for security. That’s literally his job, to defend his business … He takes his job seriously … Attempted murder charge has no place there.”

A fellow parking attendant at another garage was shocked by the charges against Diarra.

“You are kidding. That’s an April fool day joke, right?” the attendant asked. “How can a hardworking man get arrested for defending himself?”

For many, the arrest of Diarra brought back memories of Jose Alba, the Harlem-area bodega clerk who was arrested after he fatally stabbed a customer who violently attacked him.

As BizPac Review reported in July, Bragg’s office originally set the elderly Alba’s bail at an exorbitant $250,000 and sent him to Rikers Island after  37-year-old ex-con Austin Simon was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

There Alba sat for six days alongside some of the most brutal offenders in the Big Apple.

The murder charge was dropped after the public trashed Bragg’s move.

Now, Bragg is under fire for a different move: the indictment of former President Donald Trump, on paper-thin, politically-motivated charges.

“These Thugs and Radical Left Monsters have just INDICATED the 45th President of the United States of America, and the leading Republican Candidate, by far, for the 2024 Nomination for President,” Trump wrote on Truth Social when news of the indictment broke. “THIS IS AN ATTACK ON OUR COUNTRY THE LIKES OF WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE. IT IS LIKEWISE A CONTINUING ATTACK ON OUR ONCE FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS. THE USA IS NOW A THIRD WORLD NATION, A NATION IN SERIOUS DECLINE. SO SAD!”

Melissa Fine
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