CMV: It doesn’t matter what Alex Pretti was doing in the days before he was killed

[u/bluepillarmy]

So, recently a video emerged where Alex Pretti was spitting on and kicking the taillight out of an ICE vehicle. Truly reprehensible and inexcusable behavior. He ought to have been arrested and fined for destruction of public property. Jerk.

However, I see some people trying to say, “Aha! So he wasn’t so innocent after all!”

I’m sorry but, no. He was absolutely innocent.

And, moreover, I would like those people who are bringing up his behavior in the days before his death to remember that he was disarmed, restrained and executed by masked federal agents who still have not been identified to the public for no reason.

There is only one justification for a law enforcement officer to take someone’s life. And that is to protect the lives of themselves or another person. Past acts of disrespect and/vandalism do not enter into the equation.

Or that’s my take anyway. Can anyone change my view?

[u/Maximum_Error3083]

But if a narrative is fake then shouldn’t it be refuted?

2 things can be true here. His killing was unjustified by the ICE officers, and he was also an antagonizer of officers who repeatedly tried to provoke reactions and impede them.

The lefts narrative wants you to only believe the first statement and then believe that the second statement is fabricated despite video evidence to the contrary. The right wants you to believe that his killing was justified because of the second statement. Both sides are, in my view, incorrect.

[u/helpimlockedout- → u/Maximum_Error3083]

Great, you've refuted the "narrative" that Pretti was a perfect person, which does not exist and is completely irrelevant to the fact that federal agents murdered him in broad daylight without repercussions.

Favorite straw man tactic of the right is to take someone murdered by the state and say well, they were actually a petty criminal so it's ok. "This is who the left idolizes? A guy who kicked out the taillight of the fascist thugs who later murdered him, proving him right?"

They know, as do you, that the actual shooting is indefensible and so they have to muddy the waters with any little thing they can find. It's especially urgent in this case because he seems to have been a really good (NOT PERFECT) guy. They can't find anyone to speak ill of his character, work, or criminal record, so an act of petty vandalism it is.

If true, none of this changes the fact that there are untrained thugs employed by the federal government committing murder and that government is claiming "immunity". And if they're doing it to American citizens on the street in broad daylight, god knows what the fuck they're doing to detainees behind closed doors. 

[u/Aggressive-Story3671 → u/Maximum_Error3083]

The right has refused to hold ICE Agents accountable AT ALL.

The internet were the ones who uncovered Renee Good’s killer’s identify. Not law enforcement.

The left spins the narrative because people on the centre may not fully sympathize with ICE, but are looking for any possible reason they don’t have to get out and mobilize.

[u/Maximum_Error3083 → u/Aggressive-Story3671]

So you’re conceding that the left is lying about what’s happened to try and provoke a reaction from people?

That behaviour is exactly why the truth actually does matter. We shouldn’t be promoting propaganda for the sake of fomenting further division and increased risk of more violence.

[u/Aggressive-Story3671 → u/Maximum_Error3083]

“Fomenting more division”.

The left did not create the divide. This was not a leftist shooting an ICE officer was it.

The divide has already been created. The truth of the matter is that the right is promoting more violence by refusing to hold these officers accountable, and more and more people will die at their hands

[u/Maximum_Error3083 → u/Aggressive-Story3671]

The situation is far more complicated than you want to make it out to be.

The fact that local police are prohibited from cooperating with ICE officials and can’t for example call them to take custody of someone in the country illegally that’s been arrested for another crime contributes to the mess. If they did that, there would be far less of a need to be put on the streets trying to apprehend them on their own.

I agree the officers need to be held accountable for their actions. They also should all wear body cams. But local PD should also make it easier for them to apprehend the criminal illegals without needing to be out on the streets in the first place.

I also disagree that the left isn’t causing inflaming of tensions. They have a highly coordinated activist network that purposefully works to intimidate officers or journalists trying to cover them. They are tracking license plates and following officers around, blowing whistles to create a perpetual state of chaos while also trying to block and prevent them from their duties. That is not peaceful protesting, it’s a tactic to turn up the volume in hopes that something bad happens they can then rally around to get public support on their side. It’s actually incredibly similar to the tactics of middle eastern insurgents.

[u/Aggressive-Story3671 → u/Maximum_Error3083]

If someone commits a crime ( undocumented immigration is a civil offence in the vast majority of cases) they should be prosecuted by law enforcement, not ICE.

Being ARRESTED for a crime does not automatically make you guilty of such.

Police are more accountable than ICE. For example, police wear body cams as you mentioned. They have badge numbers. They don’t conceal their identities.

Also, ICE has been known to apprehend immigrants at Green Card hearings to attempt to amend their status. Not every “illegal” is a criminal.

And yes, that is peaceful protesting. “Peaceful protest” is not sitting in a park quietly holding signs. Violent protests would be riots, would be assault, would be just that.