A new report reveals Alex Pretti was on the feds radar at least a week before he was killed during a confrontation with Border Patrol officers in Minneapolis on Saturday.
CNN reported Tuesday that the 37-year-old intensive-care nurse broke a rib during a skirmish with ICE agents the week prior and federal immigration officers had “documented details” about Pretti as part of a larger effort to collect information about agitators in the area.
The Previous Encounter
A source who wished to remain anonymous for “fear of retribution” told CNN the previous incident involving Pretti “started when he stopped his car after observing ICE agents chasing what he described as a family on foot and began shouting and blowing his whistle.”
Pretti apparently told the source that five agents tackled him and one leaned on his back – which he said led to the broken rib – before releasing him at the scene. “That day, he thought he was going to die,” the source told CNN.
According to records reviewed by the outlet, Pretti was later given medication described as being “consistent with treating a broken rib.”
On Their Radar
CNN also cited sources who claimed federal immigration officers have been “collecting personal information about protesters and agitators in Minneapolis,” including “documented details” about Pretti.
CNN referenced a memo sent to agents temporarily assigned to the city that asked them to “capture all images, license plates, identifications, and general information on hotels, agitators, protestors, etc., so we can capture it all in one consolidated form.”
The form — titled “intel collection non-arrests” — apparently allows agents to fill in the personal information of agitators and protesters they encounter. While the source said Pretti’s name was known to federal agents, CNN admitted it is unclear whether the form was used to collect it.
CNN noted it also not clear whether the federal agents who Pretti interfered with on Saturday recognized him before the confrontation that resulted in him being fatally shot.
Megyn’s Take
On Tuesday’s edition of The Megyn Kelly Show, Megyn said whether the officers recognized Pretti would be “highly relevant” to any potential legal action. And she also explained why Pretti’s past behavior undermines the narrative that has been created by the left and corporate media. Below are her thoughts, edited for length and clarity:
“What this is is confirmation that this guy was out there looking for a fight. He had already interfered with ICE conducting its lawful operations out there in trying, as it sounds here, to arrest a family… with probable cause to believe that they were illegal. That’s fine. That’s their job. That’s what Barack Obama did, too. And [Alex Pretti] thought it was his business to interfere, to inject himself in that situation, and found himself on the wrong end of ICE operators.
And did that give him one modicum of hesitation to do it again? Do you think now with a broken bone and having been roughed up by officers… he learned anything? Did he understand that, when you interfere in a lawful ICE operation or Border Patrol operation, you are placing yourself in physical danger? Broken bones and worse can happen to you. Of course he did.
We knew that yesterday; we knew that Sunday; we knew that Saturday. We didn’t need this report to confirm it, but it does. It is not going to change a thing about how the far-left reacts to this. Maybe they will count it as another brutalization by the ‘evil’ ICE. No, that is not what this proves. It proves this guy was an agitator, and he was part of the terror crew that felt they could insert themselves in between a cop and his target, which is putting your life on the line 10 times out of 10. No sane person thinks they can do that without risking their life… especially not in Minneapolis, where these guys – the ICE agents and the Border Patrol agents – are being terrorized.
He knew. It was assumption of the risk. That is a legal defense when you get accused of, say, negligence in a civil tort claim. Like a situation where you say, ‘Don’t come onto my property. It’s super icy today. Snow is everywhere. I can’t ensure your safety.’ And I see the snow. I see the ice. I’m going to come anyway… and I slip and fall. In a lawsuit for negligence in maintaining the property in an unsafe way, the defense is: You assume the risk. It was disclosed. You knew about it. You came anyway. The defendant wins that case. It is a concept in the law that relieves a defendant of a legal burden, and it applies, in theory, in a criminal case too.
My point is simply: This guy knew very well what was going to happen to him if he, yet again, injected himself in the middle of a Border Patrol enforcement operation. But he did it anyway.
I’m not shocked; you’re not shocked; and we don’t give a shit what Natalie Portman thinks or doesn’t think about this… Natalie Portman was at the Sundance Film Festival crying about how it has been ‘a horrible week’ because ‘what [Donald] Trump and Kristi Noem and ICE are doing to our citizens and to undocumented people is outrageous.’
Where were her tears for Laken Riley? I don’t remember her tearful video over Jocelyn Nungaray down in Texas. Did you cry for her, you rich bitch who is protected by guards and fences and multi-million dollar estates from having to deal with anything like what these Border Patrol agents and these ICE agents are going through in order to protect people who don’t have your money and means and resources? Tell it to Jocelyn’s mother as you cry while these guys are trying to deport molesters of children, you know-nothing Hollywood starlet.
Honestly, it’s infuriating to watch them.”
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 1,239 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.