Alex Pretti's Past Does Not Justify the Government Killing Him

"The emergence of new video showing a prior encounter between Alex Pretti and federal agents has prompted a coordinated effort by prominent conservative voices to reinterpret his death. Republican communications adviser Steve Guest circulated the clip and declared that Pretti was not a peaceful protester. National Review editor Rich Lowry pointed to the video as evidence of agitation and lawlessness. Megyn Kelly described Pretti as having stalked, harassed and terrorized officers and said it cost him his life."

"The throughline in these reactions is unmistakable. The video is treated less as context than as vindication. The emphasis carries a note of near-glee, as if the footage confirms that the killing was earned rather than explained. There is something indecent about scouring a dead man's record for reasons he deserved his death at the hands of federal officials using excessive force. But the purpose is less about understanding a complex dynamic, and more about granting permissiona retroactive license for what the state already did."

"Alex Pretti was killed by federal agents using unnecessary and fatal force while peacefully observing and documenting government action in Minneapolis. That fact remains central to any serious understanding of his death. It stands independently of footage from 11 days earlier. It stands independently of his temperament or political beliefs. A freeze frame from the video of his death spread rapidly, and the nation learned his name through violence."

Prominent conservative figures circulated a prior-video clip of a confrontation between Alex Pretti and federal agents and portrayed it as evidence that he was not a peaceful observer. The clip was used less as contextual information and more as justification for the lethal outcome. Commentators framed Pretti as threatening, agitating, or extremist, and suggested those characteristics explained or earned his death. The act of excavating a dead man's past served effectively to retroactively license the use of excessive force. Legal standards for lethal force hinge on immediacy and clear threat at the moment of action, not on prior encounters or political beliefs.

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