Alex Pretti, You Were There for U.S.

When breaking news on Saturday, January 24th, reported the latest ICE victim was a nurse at the Minneapolis VAMC, I wondered if I’d ever met him. Then I saw his picture on the TV. OMG! I did know him! He was that guy, that nice nurse!

I never did know his name, but I did know him. He always seemed to be around the Minneapolis Veterans Administration Medical Center — and not just at the ICU — when we were there.

No, I can’t remember the exact times or dates of these encounters, only that Nurse Pretti had made these contacts within the last year or two…and they were always welcomed.

If you’ve ever been to the Minneapolis VAMC, you already know how inherently stressful and confusing such a visit can become. So you must also understand why the simplest gesture from Nurse Pretti could have meant so much. If you’ve never been there, let me enlighten you: you can easily get hopelessly lost inside this labyrinthine building and its extensions. Why ?

Over the years, accommodating the continuing influx of veterans who needed medical care meant this VAMC has had to expand in size. Unfortunately, its needed expansion has been severely limited by special legal constraints. Building upward by adding floors meant the VAMC couldn’t go higher than four stories because of the nearby airport. Ground expansion has also been restricted because of the nearby freeway and residential housing in South Minneapolis. The solution? To keep on attaching other smaller buildings at all different sides and angles to the main VAMC. The result?

Navigating your way through the trails of hallways also means losing your inner sense of direction. Goodbye, reliable compass points. Hello, funhouse maze.

Moving around there feels like a DIY designer tried to spin a spider web with legos. Leave a waiting room to get a cup of coffee and you might get reported to the Missing Persons Bureau. If you’re lucky, though, your trek back to the waiting room could become a vision quest that could only take yet another 15-30 minutes.

Of course, if you work there and frequent the building 4-5 times each week, you’ll gradually develop your directional bearings. But if you’re a patient or family member who’s already anxious, worried, or preoccupied about test results or procedures, you could get lost.

That’s what happened to me. It shouldn’t have.

For decades now, BFF — a former Army medic — has been going to this VAMC to treat his service-connected health problems. So I often accompany him. Last year alone he had at least 38 different visits at this facility. That included tests, check-ups, other procedures. Wouldn’t you think that, by now, I’d be able to find my way around that place?

Well, I couldn’t.

What I remember on that day was a long corridor with a cardio unit at one end (where BFF was being tested) and the ICU at the other end. And I couldn’t find a way to get out or get to this other area. I tried but ended up at a clean and shiny dead end. By the time I wandered back to the other end I was really dazed and confused and completely embarrassed to be an adult with absolutely no sense of direction.

“Can I help?” a voice inquired. I turned around. There was a nurse with a beard and glasses: Alex Pretti, RN.

Then, without making me feel stupid or more humiliated than I’d already felt, he patiently gave me directions and sent me on the right path.

After that, whenever we came to the VAMC, I might see him again by the elevators, or just walking around the hallways. Whenever we’d run into him, he’d always give that quiet smile of acknowledgement. That was the gracious way he’d validate veterans and their families. Sometime he’d add a nod or a “hello,” but he always had time to greet others.
Not everyone who worked at the VAMC was like Nurse Pretti, though. Nursing — especially with veterans — can be a challenging, time-consuming process. So many nurses at the VAMC become so rushed with all their duties that they fail to simply recognize patients and their families. That just seems to be the nature of the job when it comes to medical care nowadays.

And yet, Alex Pretti seemed to have this reservoir of interested kindness that went beyond his station at the ICU and reached out to all corners of the building. As if he was emitting a blanket of serenity to all who needed his comfort. How glad we were to have been in the presence of such honest and effortless humanity. He wasn’t just working at his job, he was heeding his call, like some wingless angel.

No, I didn’t know his name. I only recognized his face. And now we all can know him and call him Blessed.

SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT THAT “OTHER VIDEO”

Just as Trump’s popularity started to wane in regard to the Pretti shooting, another video of this ICE victim magically appeared, both online and on TV. This time, the ICU nurse was featured yelling at ICE, smashing a tail light, and spitting on their vehicle. After that outburst, the ICE Men got out of their vehicle and roughed up Pretti. Then they drove away.

These images came courtesy of The News Movement, an English language news outlet that was founded by former executives from Dow Jones and the BBC. Its followers are on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribers are on YouTube.(And apparently, other TV news outlets have acquired this second video, too.)

Although The News Movement supposedly has a strong focus on social media, its coverage of the incident seems decidedly conservative because of missing footage and explanation. This particular video also seems intended to sully Pretti’s altruistic character and portray him as a crazed agitator hell-bent on disrupting any law enforcement. All of Trump’s die-hard supporters lost no time in weaponizing the incident. As if to say, “Stop criticizing ICE! Your hero’s just another nut who’s trying to overthrow the government!” (Oh, wait. Some of them actually DID SAY these things!)

But once again, Trump’s counterpunching only dissolves into another propaganda piece. In fact, this second video only shows how sloppy and ineffective “law enforcement” from ICE truly is. Here’s why:

1. TWO DIFFERENT VIDEOS, TWO DIFFERENT DAYS

When Pretti was shot on January 24th, he was doing NOTHING to interfere with law enforcement. He was merely trying to help a female protester get up after an ICE Agent brutally shoved her down on the ice. And Alex Pretti got sprayed and slammed and shot dead for his very compassionate reaction.

As for this latest imaging from The News Movement, ICE’s reaction doesn’t make sense.

2. ABUSING PEACEFUL PROTESTERS BUT NOT ARRESTING AN AGGRESSIVE PROTESTER?

As this latest video shows, Pretti kicked out a tail light and spit on an ICE vehicle. That sounds like an open/shut case and good reason for an arrest. But these agents didn’t arrest Pretti. All they did was jump out of their vehicle, rough him up, then drive away.

ICE actually had 2 valid choices. They could have stayed inside their vehicle, driven away, then later reported the incident and damage to their superiors.

Or else, they could have simply arrested Alex Pretti.

Neither response took place. That leads me to believe that ICE had been acting outrageously or illegally BEFORE Pretti’s outburst; and, they knew that if they would have arrested him, he would have exposed their actions in his defense.

3. WHAT REALLY HAPPENED BEFORE PRETTI’S OUTBURST?

What could have triggered such an angry response from Alex Pretti, who by almost all accounts from those who knew him, was an intelligent, helpful man who was also deliberately controlled in words and actions?

What would cause him to lash out in anger — not at another person, by the way, but at an ICE vehicle?

You don’t need to be a master sleuth to figure this one out. Those ICE Men probably got violent and abusive towards peaceful protesters, and needlessly escalated the situation. And seeing innocent people getting roughed up like that infuriated Pretti — and rightfully so.