#use-of-force

#use-of-force

In the moments after federal officers shot Minneapolis ICU nurse Alex Pretti dead, Trump administration figures almost immediately made public statements in press conferences, televised interviews and social media posts that were at best indifferent to the evidence available at the time and at worst completely fabricated. A pattern is emerging, in which the Trump administration prioritizes the vilification of the dead victim as to blame for the incident over preserving the neutrality of any investigative process.

The revolt comes in the wake of the border patrol shooting death of Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse who has been vilified by the Trump administration as a domestic terrorist who meant to massacre federal agents. In fact, Pretti possessed a lawful permit to carry a concealed weapon, and widely-scrutinized video has shown that he was disarmed before federal agents fired 10 shots at him as he was restrained.

Walz pointed to videos taken at the scene as he dismissed the administration's initial accounts of the fatal encounter as "nonsense" and "lies." "Thank God we have video, because according to DHS, these seven heroic guys took an onslaught of a battalion against them," he said, accusing federal officials of "spinning stories" and "rushing to judgment." "They're telling you not to trust your eyes and ears."

Yeah, what's the difference? I mean, it must be exhausting with these people's mental gymnastics. Like, okay, okay. Let's use for the sake of argument, let's use their logic. And then that anybody that interferes or MP with law enforcement will meet the consequences. Let's use that logic. Okay. By that logic, every single person at January 6th should have been shot dead! By their logic! I'm not suggesting that let's be a hundred percent clear.

When Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Nicole Good last Wednesday morning in Minneapolis, the 37-year-old mother became one of at least 25 people killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shooting since 2015. In the days after Ross fired at Good multiple times from the front and side of Good's car, visual investigations from outlets like The New York Times and The Washington Post have reconstructed the event, which unfolded in a matter of seconds.

The administration claims that in both Minneapolis and Portland, the drivers were "domestic terrorists" who "weaponized" their vehicles, that the officers acted in self-defense, that they fired their guns to save their lives. In the first case, we have video to disprove it. In the second, unless a video surfaces, it will be the agent's word against the victims'. We should no longer be surprised by the Trump administration's lies.

The bench trial for NYPD Sergeant Erik Duran, accused of murdering a man by throwing a cooler at his head, began in the Bronx on Wednesday the first active member of the department to be prosecuted in more than a decade. Demonstrators outside the Bronx Hall of Justice, located at 265 East 161st St., rallied to demand Duran's conviction as the case got underway inside.