Quote of the Day
The Renee Good case was clear-cut self-defense. Objectively, she hit the accelerator when her tires were pointed directly at the officer. If the officer had complete omnipotence he would still have been justified in using deadly force.
The Pretti case is different. It still looks like lawful self-defense, but in this case, if the officers were omnipotent, they would NOT have fired. But from the perception of the individual officer in the moment, all they know is that they are dealing with an agitator who has 1) aggressively confronted a federal law enforcement officer 2) unlawfully interfered in an arrest of a third party and 3) violently resisted arrest. And then the officer hears “gun gun gun.” We don’t know exactly what that officer was seeing at the time; maybe the body cam video will be probative, maybe not. But the officer is allowed to rely on the perceptions of his colleagues combined with his own, so if he heard “gun gun gun” and saw Pretti reach for his waist that’s a lawful shoot even if the officer was mistaken.
Will Chamberlain @willchamberlain
Posted on X, January 26, 2026
He meant “omniscient”, not “omnipotent”.
There is at least one video I have seen that appears to show the officer who took Petti’s gun had an AD with it as he was walking away. This, as you might expect, appears to have initiated the shooting of Petti.
If true, it will almost certainly result in it being a lawful, tragic shooting.
“There is at least one video I have seen that appears to show the officer who took Petti’s gun had an AD with it as he was walking away. This, as you might expect, appears to have initiated the shooting of Petti.
If true, it will almost certainly result in it being a lawful, tragic shooting.”
This opens a door to ***horrible*** abuses, even if all the officers involved in *this specific case* acted in good faith.
Of course, the problem is that I can’t think of any way to close it without opening another door for ***horrible*** abuses, just in the other direction.
Ugh. At least the officer who had the AD should be prosecuted for it. That would be *SOMETHING* to make it less “get to shoot people for free”.
Horrible abuses in the other direction is exactly what the Left wants.
Excellent point. But it does require two or more conspirators to be reliable. Which makes it less likely to be kept a secret.
Prosecuted for what?
He was in a violent confrontation with an armed person. He disarmed that person by taking from him a weapon. The agent is not expected to be an expert on the use of every weapon in existence. But we have no evidence that he attempted to manipulate that weapon in any manner.
What we see is him leaving the immediate vicinity of the suspect and the struggle. Smart – get the weapon out of play. And then it *maybe* discharges. Again – what are you going to prosecute him for? Grabbing the weapon incorrectly? That would immediately end any police officer attempting to keep a weapon away from a suspect – they will just have to shoot them instead. Hello law of unintended consequences…..
The video of the AD is an AI fake.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/age-of-ai-when-149474980
It’s tragic that only two traitors were killed.
If the officer who handled Petti’s pistol during the process of detaining / arresting him had a negligent discharge with it, they bear some responsibility. At least a letter of reprimand in their file for mishandling a pistol in an unsafe manner so that the negligent discharge occurred. Petti bears the vast majority of responsibility for his multiple poor decisions. If you’re going to protest, do it peacefully. If you think you may have hands put on you by an officer during civil unrest leave your firearms at home or secured in your vehicle unless things are so dire that you PLAN to use them in a conflict against officers. In which case you’re a moron because you brought a handgun to a rifle fight
“leave your firearms at home”
I assume you agree, then, that all these conservatives bringing guns to protests were in the wrong too, correct?
https://zeteo.com/p/conservatives-ice-guns-trump-minneapolis-list-second-ammendment
They were peaceful protests, as far as the armed protesters participating went, so being armed was fine
Yah, those J6 protests were super peaceful.
https://nypost.com/2021/01/07/who-are-the-four-who-died-in-the-dc-protest-at-the-capitol/
How many have to be killed before the left does not gain an advantage from each death by celebrating them as martyrs?
Ask the Muslim jihadis…. Seems like it’s a pretty high number.
I’m guessing you were fishing for this reply. I will oblige although I strongly disagree with the conclusion; “One death is a tragedy; a million is a statistic.” Joseph Stalin, Communist mass murderer.
Mi General Augusto Pinochet says it should only require helicopter rides for less than 100,000 totalitarian scumbags to clean up the current mess if the proper selections are made
“Lawful but Tragic”.
Not really.
He was a communist enemy combat that went out looking for a fight. Armed.
Against law enforcement that were executing lawful orders.
I’m glad they got him before he got around to doing something really stupid. And the more I think on it. The more this whole kerfuffle seems “Pretti stupid”.
As he’s a good commie now.