Did alex pretti kick a tail light 11 days before getting killed by ice?

1. What the footage shows and who verified it

Short clips first published by The News Movement and picked up by mainstream outlets show a man identified by the family as Alex Pretti confronting federal agents, spitting toward a vehicle and then kicking its rear taillight as the SUV backs away; multiple outlets including The New York Times, CBS News and PBS described and published the same sequence ^{[1] [2] [4]}, and the BBC and other partners verified the tape’s authenticity as depicting the January 13 encounter ^{[2] [3]}.

2. How reliably the person is identified and what officials say

A family representative and a person with knowledge of the incident confirmed to reporters that the man in the video was Pretti, and attorneys for the family have said they were aware of that prior clash ^{[4] [5]}; Homeland Security Investigations has said it is reviewing the newly surfaced video, but reporting makes clear it is not yet public whether any of the officers involved in the January 13 scuffle were present at the later, fatal encounter 11 days afterward ^{[4] [5]}.

3. What remains unclear and context reporters emphasize

News coverage uniformly notes that the video does not show what, if anything, provoked the initial exchange and that it does not capture everything that may have occurred before or after the recorded moments — journalists repeatedly caution it is “unclear what preceded the events caught on camera” and that the clips do not show Pretti reaching for a weapon, though some footage shows what appears to be a holstered gun in his waistband at times ^{[6] [1] [4]}.

4. How the new footage fits into competing narratives about the killing

Advocates for the family and their attorney say the January 13 incident — in which the video shows Pretti being wrestled to the ground after the taillight was damaged — cannot justify the use of lethal force on January 24 and frame the earlier encounter as evidence of heavy‑handed policing ^{[6] [5]}; by contrast, some officials and conservative commentators have pointed to the earlier footage and the visible holster as part of a broader account justifying officers’ actions, and federal officials have described the shooting as involving agents who said they fired in self‑defense ^[7].

5. Bottom line answer to the direct question

Yes: multiple verified videos published and reported across major outlets show Alex Pretti kicking and breaking the taillight of a federal agents’ SUV on January 13, which was 11 days before he was fatally shot on January 24; that sequence and the identification of Pretti in the footage are reported consistently across The New York Times, CBS, PBS, NBC, Fortune and others ^{[1] [2] [4] [7] [5]}. However, these recordings do not resolve why the later shooting occurred, whether the same officers were involved, or what unrecorded interactions may have influenced the fatal encounter, and federal reviews are ongoing ^{[4] [5]}.