Alex pretti kicking the ICE car
Executive summary
Newly surfaced video footage from Jan. 13 shows a man confirmed by multiple news outlets to be Alex Pretti spitting at federal officers and kicking the right taillight of an SUV occupied by immigration agents, breaking it, and then being wrestled to the ground by officers at the scene [1] [2] [3]. The footage has been widely circulated and verified by mainstream outlets, but it does not by itself explain or justify Pretti’s fatal shooting by Border Patrol agents 11 days later, a separate incident now under federal review [4] [5] [2].
1. What the footage shows and who verified it
Multiple independent outlets published and analyzed the footage taken on Jan. 13: The News Movement captured and published the clip, which shows a man shouting at agents, spitting toward an ICE vehicle, then kicking at a taillight until it breaks as officers begin to drive away; those actions are described and illustrated in reporting from The New York Times, PBS NewsHour, KSTP and others that confirmed the person in the video is Pretti [1] [2] [3] [5].
2. Immediate aftermath in the video: officers tackle him
Bystander-shot video shows that after the taillight was damaged, officers exited the vehicle, grabbed Pretti and brought him to the ground amid a crowd, with several agents involved in subduing him, according to footage and contemporaneous reporting [5] [2] [3].
3. Family, attorneys and official responses
Pretti’s family and their attorney have acknowledged the Jan. 13 confrontation but insist that the earlier altercation cannot justify the later fatal shooting; the family’s attorney called the prior incident evidence of Pretti being “violently assaulted” by ICE agents and urged that it not be used to rationalize his death on Jan. 24 [6] [5]. Homeland Security Investigations said it is reviewing the Jan. 13 videos as part of ongoing inquiries, and press reporting notes it is unknown whether any of the same officers from Jan. 13 were present at the Jan. 24 encounter [2] [5].
4. How the clip has been used politically and in media
The clip quickly circulated across social platforms and was amplified by political figures and commentators who framed it to support competing narratives—some used it to portray Pretti as an “agitator” while others argued it underscored that even aggressive protest behavior does not justify lethal force days later; outlets such as Fox highlighted activist coordination around protests, while national figures including the president publicly commented on the footage [7] [8] [4].
5. What the footage does not prove
The Jan. 13 video documents an assault on property and a physical clash but does not demonstrate a causal link between that confrontation and the Jan. 24 shooting, nor does it by itself identify which officers — if any — from the earlier incident were involved in the later encounter; mainstream reporting repeatedly notes this evidentiary limitation and that separate investigations are ongoing [2] [5] [6].
6. Broader context and stakes
Reporting places the Jan. 13 clash in a fraught moment of federal immigration enforcement in Minneapolis, with judges and lawmakers scrutinizing ICE tactics and the Justice Department and DHS facing pressure to explain both the surge of agents and the lethal encounter that followed; newly published video rekindled debates over enforcement tactics, protester conduct, and accountability [9] [6] [5].