MINNEAPOLIS — The struggle that killed Alex Pretti began with a shove. It ended with gunshots.
In the final moments before he was shot and killed by federal authorities in Minneapolis, Pretti attempted to intervene in a confrontation where several federal agents were shoving two women. In videos from the scene, Pretti crosses the street and places himself between the officers and the women before being pepper-sprayed, separated from the group, beaten, and shot multiple times.
“I could tell the second that I laid eyes on him that he was horrifically injured.”
One of the women involved in the confrontation, who was the closest civilian to Pretti when he was killed, said that in the immediate aftermath of the shooting she identified herself as an emergency medical technician and moved to perform CPR. Federal agents restrained her, said the woman, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution by the government.
The woman, a registered EMT whose credentials were confirmed by The Intercept, said in an exclusive interview that it was apparent Pretti had suffered serious injuries and needed medical help.
“I could tell the second that I laid eyes on him that he was horrifically injured,” the EMT recalled. “I immediately said, ‘I’m an EMT! He has a brain injury! He has a serious brain injury! I need to help him right now.’”
In videos of the shooting, the EMT repeatedly exclaims that Pretti is “decorticate posturing” — a medical term for the curling and movements of the limbs after suffering severe brain trauma. Then, Pretti’s body went completely limp. Videos show the EMT frantically pleading with one of the officers as other agents begin to surround Pretti’s body.
“I was literally begging the agent who was holding me back to let me do CPR,” she recalled. “Because I knew that if he wasn’t pulseless at that point already, he was going to become pulseless very, very soon.”
Immediately following the shooting, the EMT, who was carrying trauma supplies at the scene, attempted to reach Pretti before being intercepted and held back by a masked officer. The medic’s identity and place at the scene were corroborated by an attorney with the Minnesota branch of the National Lawyers Guild. The EMT’s account of events is supported by publicly available video evidence and court documents.
Government agencies have an obligation to give basic health care to people that they have arrested or detained, according to to Xavier de Janon, the director of mass defense at the National Lawyers Guild.
“If government agencies fail to keep someone alive and there is proof that it their fault, they could be liable for their actions.”
“The responsibility of the government is to make sure that the person in their custody is cared for and alive,” de Janon said. “If government agencies fail to keep someone alive and there is proof that it’s their fault,