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Comment by gruez

20 hours ago

>Does it really seem that far–fetched when compared to the other ICE murders?

No, not really, because in the two killings you can vaguely argue they felt threatened. Pointing a gun to someone's head and demanding the password isn't anywhere close to that. Don't get me wrong, the killings are an affront to civil liberties and should be condemned/prosecuted accordingly, but to think that ICE agents are going around and reenacting the opening scene from Inglorious Bastards shows that your worldview can't handle more nuance than "fascism? true/false".

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gruez

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youarentrightjr  20 hours ago

> but to think that ICE agents are going around and reenacting the opening scene from Inglorious Bastards shows that your worldview can't handle more nuance than "fascism? true/false".

Precisely.

There's no question that ICE is daily trampling civil liberties (esp 4th amendment).

But in both killings there is a reasonable interpretation that they feared for their lives.

Now should they have is another question. With better training, a 6v1 < 5ft engagement can easily disarm anyone with anything less than a suicide vest.

But still, we aren't at the "run around and headshot dissenters" phase.

  • direwolf20  20 hours ago

    > there is a reasonable interpretation that they feared for their lives

    ... Did you watch the videos from multiple people filming?

    • youarentrightjr  19 hours ago

      > ... Did you watch the videos from multiple people filming?

      Yeah, did you? Any more substantive discourse you'd like to add to the conversation?

      To be clear about the word "reasonable" in my comment, it's similar to the usage of the very same word in the phrase "beyond a reasonable doubt".

      The agents involved in the shootings aren't claiming that:

      - the driver telepathically communicated their ill intent

      - they saw Pretti transform into a Satan spawn and knew they had to put him down

      They claim (unsurprisingly, to protect themselves) that they feared for their life because either a car was driving at them or they thought Pretti had another firearm. These are reasonable fears, that a reasonable person has.

      That doesn't mean the agents involved are without blame. In fact, especially in Pretti's case, they constructed a pretext to began engagement with him (given that he was simply exercising his 1st amendment right just prior).

      But once in the situation, a reasonable person could have feared for their lives.

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