US President Donald Trump shared a video on Truth Social showing Alex Pretti in a confrontation with federal immigration agents, 11 days before the intensive care unit nurse was fatally shot during a separate encounter with Border Patrol agents.
The footage shows Pretti being violently pushed to the ground by federal immigration agents after kicking out the taillight of their vehicle during a protest in Minneapolis on January 13.
The video posted to Mr. Trump’s Truth Social account includes an overlay of Senator Elizabeth Warren speaking about Mr. Pretti.
“Alex carried patience, compassion and calmness like a steady light,” Warren is heard saying in the video, which shows Mr Pretti kicking the car.
In one of the original videos, published by the Minnesota Star Tribune and later obtained by the Associated Press, Pretti is seen shouting an expletive at the federal officers and wrestling with them.
Alex Pretti and a police officer in a scuffle on January 13. (AP)
His winter coat comes off as he lies on the ground, before he breaks free or the officers let him go and he runs away.
When he turns his back to the camera, something that looks like a gun can be seen in his waistband.
At no point do the videos show Pretti reaching for the gun and it is unclear whether federal agents saw it.
Alex Pretti was tackled to the ground by an officer. (AP)
A representative of the Pretti family confirmed that the man in the video was Mr. Pretti.
The new videos immediately fueled national debate over Mr. Pretti’s death.
Steve Schleicher, a Minneapolis lawyer representing Mr. Pretti’s parents, said in a statement to the ABC that the earlier altercation in no way justified the officers’ fatal shooting of Mr. Pretti on Saturday.
“A week before Alex was shot in the street – despite not being a threat to anyone – he was violently attacked by a group [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] officers,” Schleicher said in a statement.
“Nothing that happened a full week earlier could justify the killing of Alex by ICE on January 24.”
New videos are under review
Homeland Security Investigations is reviewing the new videos and the incident, a department spokesperson said.
It is not known if any of the officers involved were there when Pretti was killed.
Last weekend’s fatal shooting took place on a sidewalk next to the street where Pretti had filmed immigration officials.
In video taken by bystanders, one officer pushes him, then Mr. Pretti is pushed to the ground and half a dozen officers try to subdue him.
Someone sees Mr. Pretti’s gun, which he was allowed to carry, and shouts, “He has a gun.”
Two officers then open fire and Mr. Pretti is killed.
Trump administration officials responded quickly, saying Pretti had approached officers with a gun and attacked them.
The altercation and shooting were captured on multiple videos and show that Mr. Pretti never brandished his gun or attacked any officers.
He was holding his phone when he was shot in the back on the ground.
Observers were ‘quite distraught and screaming’
The new videos from the week leading up to the shooting came from two sources.
The copy obtained by the AP was taken by Max Shapiro, a witness who filmed the interaction.
Alex Pretti and a cop in confrontation on video. (AP)
The second was from a team from The News Movement, an online media outlet.
Mr. Shapiro, a lawyer in Minneapolis, said in an interview that he saw through a Signal chat that immigration enforcement was in the area.
As he drove there, Mr. Shapiro parked a half-block from the officers and got out.
“The observers were quite distraught and shouting,” he said.
He added that officers tried to get the crowd back, but their directives were largely drowned out by whistles and shouts.
Alex Pretti went to the ground in a confrontation on January 13. (AP)
The News Movement video shows Pretti wearing glasses, a dark baseball cap and a winter coat as he yells at federal vehicles.
At one point he appears to spit “trash” and yell at the driver’s side of a dark Ford Expedition with flashing red and blue lights.
As the car slowly drives away, Mr. Pretti kicks the taillight and then delivers a second kick, shattering the red plastic and leaving the taillight dangling.
Mr. Shapiro started filming on his phone just after Pretti turned off the taillight.
Both videos show the rear door of the SUV swinging open and an immigration officer wearing a gas mask and helmet getting out. He starts walking towards Mr. Pretti.
The officer grabs Mr. Pretti’s shirt by his chest and pulls him back to the vehicle as Mr. Pretti’s arms wave.
The officer pulls Mr. Pretti back into the street and onto his knees, falling over Mr. Pretti during the scuffle.
Other masked and helmeted officers surround them and try to subdue Mr. Pretti.
Others stand guard between them and a screaming crowd before officers fire tear gas canisters and retreat.
After Pretti staggers away, Mr. Shapiro walks over and hugs Pretti, asking if she is okay.
Pretti confirms that this is the case, before turning to others involved in the fight and asking, “Are we all okay? Are we all safe?”
Mr. Shapiro said he understood that some would use the videos to smear Mr. Pretti, but that he appeared to be someone who cared deeply about what happened to the people involved in the Trump administration’s deportation push.
“I am not an expert on immigration policy,” Shapiro said.
“But there has to be a better way to handle this.”
ABC/AP
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