Did Alex Pritti spit in the face of an ICE agent
Executive summary
Video evidence and contemporaneous reporting indicate Alex Pretti spat toward a federal vehicle and the driver’s side during an encounter 11 days before his death; multiple outlets describe him appearing to spit at the vehicle rather than directly in an agent’s face, and no published footage cited in these reports clearly shows Pretti spitting into an ICE or Border Patrol agent’s face [1] [2] [3].
1. What the newly surfaced videos actually show
The raw clips obtained and reported by outlets including The News Movement, The New York Times and PBS show Pretti approaching a dark federal SUV, shouting and making a motion consistent with spitting toward the driver’s side of the vehicle, then kicking at the taillight so it breaks off; subsequent angles show agents emerging from the vehicle and tackling him to the ground [2] [3] [4].
2. How major news organizations described the act
The Guardian, The New York Times and PBS explicitly report that the footage shows Pretti spitting on the vehicle or toward the vehicle’s driver side rather than directly on an officer, noting a reverse-angle clip that makes the trajectory clearer; those outlets contrast that depiction with political claims that the footage showed him spitting in an agent’s face [1] [2] [3].
3. Competing claims and partisan amplification
Right-wing commentators, including public statements cited in reporting, asserted that Pretti “spit on” or “spit in the face of” federal agents, a characterization amplified by some national figures; reporting in The Guardian and others identifies that claim and then points readers to the third video angle which indicates the spit landed on the vehicle rather than on an agent [1] [5].
4. How local and broadcast outlets framed it
Local television and regional papers—Fox9, KSTP and other broadcasters cited the same set of videos and described Pretti as yelling, spitting at the agents’ vehicle and kicking the tail light before being tackled; those reports often include commentary from the Pretti family attorney and note the Department of Homeland Security opened a review, but they stop short of stating he spat into an agent’s face [6] [7] [8].
5. Legal and prosecutorial perspectives quoted in coverage
Former prosecutors and legal commentators told journalists that spitting toward federal officers could be treated as assault on a federal officer if directed at a person, and some speculated charges might have been possible; those analyses in the reporting, however, rest on the assumption of an intentional spit at an officer and do not assert that the videos show contact with an officer’s person [9] [10].
6. What can and cannot be concluded from available reporting
Based on the reporting examined, the best-supported factual conclusion is that Pretti appears to spit on or toward the federal vehicle and the driver’s side during the Jan. 13 confrontation; none of the cited outlets or the published angles identified by them provide clear, uncontested footage of spit striking an agent’s face, and journalists explicitly note ambiguity in what preceded the incident and the limits of the clips [1] [2] [3]. The reporting therefore documents spitting at the vehicle and aggressive conduct by both sides, but does not establish that Pretti spat in an ICE or Border Patrol agent’s face.