Another person dead in Minneapolis. Here's what happened...

Okay, I just took a look at the videos of what happened to one Alex Pretti yesterday in Minneapolis.  Pretti being the latest person to perish in the chaos that's happening there.

I won't pretend to have all the evidence/facts of the case.  But what it seems to me, at this hour anyway, is that Pretti got himself involved in a bad situation and the Border Patrol direly over-reacted.  That over-reaction was exacerbated by the presence on Pretti of a loaded firearm.

I think there're more than enough that went wrong in this incident to assign blame to practically everybody involved.  There are no clean hands or clean hearts in this matter.  No one can claim innocence.  This almost comes across as an event that was bound to occur and the buck happened to land on Alex Pretti.

As I've said on Facebook and elsewhere lately, too many times now, there are some people who are thriving off of the anger and hatred of our time.  Pretti was angry.  It clouded his thinking.  And it led to him being in a place he should not have been while possessing a gun.  It was like bringing a lit match into an oxygen tent.  It's simply something that no sane person *does*.

Pretti should not have been open carrying.  At least not going into the environment that he was placing himself in.  Tensions are high, emotions are running raw.  Bringing any weapon into that stew of hate is inviting disaster.  If Pretti wanted to protest, he could have done that without having a firearm on him.  What WAS he thinking??  

I don't like to use the term "collateral damage", I've hated that phrase ever since I first heard it years ago. But I'm trying my damndest to think of something that is more fitting with what took place yesterday.  Alex Pretti and the Border Patrol collided and his death is the result of that.  It didn't have to end like that.  He could have still been alive tonight, getting ready for another day on his job.

People, think for yourselves!  Stop being incited to anger and hatred.  Stop listening to the politicians and the news media and too many on social media!  They are leading you into bad places, doing bad things.  I know that some of you think you're fighting against fascism.  I've met victims of real fascism, many times during my life.  What is happening in America right now is NOT that.  The fact that we are freely discussing and debating this, without fear of having our doors knocked down in the middle of the night, is proof of that.  Maybe that kind of thing happens in Britain and other places in Europe, but not here (I digress however).

Alex Pretti is not a martyr for the cause and the Border Patrol/ICE are not the new incarnation of the Brownshirts.  This was a tragedy, an avoidable one, that resulted from too many terrible elements converging.  And that's all it was.

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This article was a heartbreaker to read...

Let me preface this by stating from the start: I know fully well that bad cops exist.  There is a city in North Carolina that I am forever going to loathe going through because of one incident that involved both city police and county sheriff's personnel, and that was almost twenty years ago (oh the perils of being a puppy-eyed cub reporter getting knocked around by the world for the first time).  I believe that there are few things as bad as any member of law enforcement who consciously betrays what it means to take an oath and puts on the badge.  And this blog has chronicled law enforcement abuse so many times that it's gotten its own tag.

In short: I get it.

But I'm also grateful for being able to still appreciate that the good cops far outnumber the bad.

Three situations come to mind as I write these words.  One happened not too long ago, and it revitalized my trust and confidence in the members of law enforcement in general.  Two of its representatives assured me that an incident I brought to their attention would be pursued as much as possible, and I have taken their word on that.  The second involves the prank video I made four years ago of a rocket launcher destroying that "new statue" in Reidsville, North Carolina's downtown area.  Two police officers came to my front door (fifteen minutes away from town!) to ask about it.  There was no warning issued, they seemed pretty amused by it actually.  It was just that apparently someone reported it to Homeland Security and they had to follow up on it.  They were confident that I was harboring no real explosives and a good laugh was had by all.

The third situation regards my having severe enough mental illness that I have had to be taken into custody numerous times by members of law enforcement.

Yes, I have had to be handcuffed.  I have had to be put into the back of a police cruiser or sheriff's vehicle.  I have been frisked for potential weapons and escorted under guard into hospital emergency rooms.  All of these and more.  And not once have I felt like my dignity as a human being was violated.  Every officer involved in those sporadic situations has behaved with utmost respect toward me and I hope that I reciprocated that to them.

(There is also the matter of how many times during the course of my current profession, that I have witnessed law enforcement officers interact with some of the most neglected people in our community.  That alone has brought about renewed appreciation for their efforts.)

Right now there is a lot of commotion about cities disbanding their police forces.  Travis Yates, writing at the website Law Officer, has penned a heart-rending essay about why that will sooner than later not be necessary.  Because members of the law enforcement community are finally becoming so discouraged by what they must deal with that they are now actively asking young people to reconsider going into the profession.

I have to agree with Mr. Yates, on every point.  And if Minneapolis commits to its plan to abolish its police department, then it truly will become "Mogadishu on the Mississippi": a lawless realm of total anarchy.  Give it a year and it will not resemble the Minneapolis of today... and I don't mean that in a good way either.  It is not a situation that will be remedied by bolstered social programs and increased bureaucracy.

It's an eye-opening article, and it made me reassess my own perspective on those who put on the uniform.  It also led me to discover Blue Line Bears: an endeavor by a young lady in Florida to provide teddy bears to children of those who have fallen in the line of duty.  I was so impressed by the effort that I reached out to them to thank them.  There's an option to make contributions on their site and I'm going to ask that any readers of this post consider that.

As for the people of Minneapolis and other cities: you would do well to read Mr. Yates' words and ponder them deeply.  And then if you are still led to do so, go ahead with your plan to abolish the police force wholesale.

The rest of us will be watching.

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