Video of Alex Pretti’s previous confrontation with federal immigration agents shows that he had allowed himself to become consumed by a deranged political ideology that legitimizes street violence, which explains how he found himself in the lethal position he did in his last confrontation.
Newly released video from Jan. 13 in Minneapolis shows Pretti screaming and cursing at federal immigration agents while he stands in the middle of the street. He kicks a federal vehicle multiple times, kicking out a rear taillight. Pretti is thrown to the ground by agents, resisting the entire time, with his gun visible in his waistband.
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This is not to say that the shooting of Pretti on Saturday is justified because of this video from 11 days earlier. The shooting of Pretti stands on its merits thus far: The video from that incident shows he intervened in federal agents’ operations, got physical with officers, and frantically resisted them with a gun on his person. He was shot because he put officers in a split-second life-or-death situation.
What the video from the first incident does show is that Pretti made the same series of stupid decisions that got him shot on more than one occasion. He twice stood in the middle of the road, instigated an altercation with federal law enforcement agents, fought frantically to resist arrest, and did it all while carrying a gun. He, twice, instigated and escalated confrontations with federal agents, resulting in a broken rib in the first confrontation and fatal gunshot wounds in the second.
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The expectation that Border Patrol agents be held to a near flawless standard, one that withstands slow-motion video and no context of the lead-up to a confrontation, is why federal agents are being blamed for Pretti’s death. In reality, Pretti put himself in dangerous situations repeatedly and did so by openly flouting federal law enforcement. He thought his violence, against federal property and against agents trying to detain him, was justified. Doing all this with a gun on his hip was reckless, irresponsible, and dangerous.
It is not the job of Border Patrol or Immigration and Customs Enforcement to coddle people breaking the law to interfere in their operations. They cannot be in a constant state of de-escalation with “protesters” who are constantly escalating confrontations, as Pretti did twice. His death was entirely avoidable, but not because of any Border Patrol errors or guidelines. It was entirely avoidable because Pretti was the one who chose to break the law, instigate confrontations, and ramp up the danger by having a gun while he did it.