Bystander video reveals confrontation between Alex Pretti and federal agents 11 days before killing

Alex Pretti, the intensive care nurse killed by federal agents last weekend, was swarmed and tackled by officers in another encounter 11 days earlier, according to footage obtained by the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Pretti, 37, was captured on bystander video Jan. 13 amid a crowd of whistle-blowing observers, cursing immigration agents as an unmarked convoy swarmed a south Minneapolis street corner.

A spokesperson for his family and the family’s attorney have verified that the man in the video is Pretti.

Pretti stood in the crosswalk and flipped the middle finger of both hands toward an SUV carrying officers clad in tactical gear. One jumped out of the back passenger seat and charged toward him, grabbing Pretti by the jacket and tackling him as other agents piled on, according to the footage.

Onlookers screamed for them to stop while at least four agents struggled with Pretti on the pavement. He managed to slip out of his coat and break free after about 25 seconds. The officers retreated moments later, without bringing him into custody.

“He got slammed to the ground pretty hard,” said Max Shapiro, a witness who filmed the interaction.

The Star Tribune initially identified Pretti by conducting a digital forensic analysis of the footage. The man caught on tape shared striking physical resemblance to Pretti and even wore some of the same clothing Pretti did the day he was killed: a plain black hat, sunglasses, brown coat and a beige hooded long-sleeve shirt.

The earlier altercation occurred at the intersection of E. 36th Street and Park Avenue in Minneapolis’ Powderhorn neighborhood — less than half a mile from the spot where an ICE officer shot Renee Good in her vehicle the week before.

Shapiro, a Minneapolis-based corporate tax attorney, rushed to the area just before 10:30 a.m. after Signal group chats alerted him to ICE enforcement activity near his young son’s Spanish-Immersion day care.

Shapiro said he witnessed several in the crowd of 15 to 20 people lobbing snowballs at agents. Then, he said, a bearded man positioned in the street — wearing a brown coat, black hat and sunglasses — proceeded to kick out the taillight of an agent’s SUV.

Shapiro’s account matches events captured in separate video posted to social media Jan. 28 by conservative influencer Nick Sortor, showing the encounter from a different angle.

Shapiro’s recording begins seconds later when Pretti is seen flipping off the car full of federal agents. One beelines toward him and spins him to the ground. Other agents shoot pepper balls, toss smoke canisters and threaten the use of chemical irritants in an attempt to keep the angry crowd back.

The reaction to Pretti’s smashing of the taillight seemed overly aggressive, Shapiro later told the Star Tribune.

“Is it grounds for getting out of a car after you’ve already packed up and decided that you were going to leave and then assault a person and harass a group of observers? Probably not,” Shapiro said, noting that Pretti did not appear to fight back, only attempt to flee.

Eventually, Pretti wrestles out of his coat and runs away, rejoining the small group of protesters.

The 2½-minute video ends with a caravan of federal vehicles leaving the scene as smoke billows in the intersection. Shapiro approaches Pretti, who he did not know, and asks if he’s OK.

Pretti says that he is, before turning to the dispersing crowd. “Are we all OK? Are we all safe?” he calls out to the dozen or so bystanders who remain.

CNN claimed that Pretti suffered a broken rib after five agents tackled him and another leaned on his back about a week before his death. The story did not disclose when or where this allegedly happened.

U.S Department of Homeland Security officials told CNN they have “no record of this incident.”

A representative for the family told the Star Tribune on Jan. 28 that he could not confirm the extent of those injuries. However, Pretti did tell relatives about a previous scuffle with federal law enforcement that tore his jacket, shirt and boots, the spokesman said. In the aftermath, Pretti complained of pain related to unknown injuries, he said, but did not seek medical treatment.

Nearly two weeks later, on Jan. 24, Pretti joined another protest outside Glam Doll Donuts, about 2 miles northeast of the previous incident. He pulled out his phone and walked in the street, approaching agents as he recorded their interactions with bystanders.

“Do not push them into the traffic,” a deep voice, apparently Pretti’s, chides an agent, who responds by shoving someone toward the sidewalk.

It’s not clear whether any of the agents involved recognized Pretti — or previously encountered him during enforcement operations.

On that Saturday, as images of Pretti flooded social media following his death, Shapiro couldn’t shake the notion that “this guy looks familiar.”

Rewatching his earlier video with the knowledge that the man he met had died at the hands of government agents left him shaken. If it could happen to Pretti, he thought, it could happen to anyone.

Yet, Shapiro wasn’t surprised to learn that Pretti had continued protesting.