On the latest episode of Protecting America, Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith, Spokesperson with The National Police Association and a Retired Chicago Area Police Officer, joins Rita Cosby to discuss the latest deadly shooting by federal law enforcement in Minneapolis of protester Alex Pretti and the escalating attacks overall against ICE and Border Patrol agents in sanctuary cities and states.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
The Red Apple Media Podcast Network presents This is Protecting
America Now. Here's Emmy winning journalist Rita Cosby.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And welcome to another edition of Protecting America. I'm Rita Cosby. Well,
the recent two fatal shootings by federal law enforcement in
Minneapolis and the out of control crowds and attacks against
federal agents like ice and Customs and Border Protection are
(00:35):
dominating the headlines. And joining us now to discuss this
and more is Sergeant Betsy brandtn Or Smith. She's a
spokesperson with the National Police Association and also a retired
Chicago area police officer. Sergeant Betsy Brantner Smith, It's great
to have you here.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Rita, thanks so much for having me back.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
What's your reaction when you see the videos and some
of the different discussions surrounding this latest shooting of this individual,
thirty seventy years old Alex Pretty in Minneapolis.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Well, it's this, of course is a tragedy, but when
I look at these videos from all angles, as someone
who was a copper twenty nine years I feel that
fear and I feel that angst that those agents are
obviously feeling. This is such a frustrating situation because they
(01:34):
there was a woman that was you know, they were
trying to take custody of her for whatever reason. And
then Alex Pretty inserts himself into an arrest situation, and
then you know, he gets into this altercation with the agents,
and then we don't really know even looking at all
the angles who fired that first shot, but you hear
(01:58):
the agent at one of the agency l gun gun gun,
and that is such a horrible situation to be in,
and then of course chaos ensues and it's difficult for
everyone around. You know, no police officer wakes up and says, oh,
I hope I get to shoot somebody today. So this
(02:20):
is a tragedy and it was very preventable. Reader, I
think that's the worst part of it.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
How do you think this could have been prevented. There's
a lot of things I can think of, but I
want your expertise.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Alex Pretty should have kept his hands off law enforcement.
It's very very simple. If you feel the need as
he did, to go and record what Border patrol or
ICE agents are doing, or to peacefully protest, that is
your right. But when you see ice or this was
(02:55):
Border patrol putting their hands on somebody that they are
trying to arrest. You cannot go and insert yourself into that,
whether or not you're armed. We now know he was armed,
but you cannot interrupt a lawful arrest. And there's where
things went terribly wrong.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
You know. You bring up the point too. You're right,
he inserted himself. He injected himself. Explain how dangerous that
is just in general for law enforcement when somebody does that,
and when you're dealing with a big crowd. This was
the area where there have been a lot of arrests
I understand of illegal immigrants. They were going after their
(03:37):
original target, not necessarily the person at that moment, but
the original target why they were in the area was
to get somebody who had I think it was a
domestic assault and some other things, so had a criminal history.
Kind of explain just how dangerous it is, and I
think you understand it better than so many people. When
you're in that environment, you got a lot of buildings,
(03:58):
you're in an urban set, you have all a very
hostile crowd towards ice them and throwing bottles. Just how
unpredictable that situation is and dangerous just in general for
law enforcement going in.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Well, absolutely, and you said the right word, unpredictable. Those
agents have no idea as they're trying to arrest this
woman what the crowd is doing. And that's why you're
seeing this influx of ICE and Border patrol into the
Minneapolis area because what is happening In a normal situation
(04:34):
where it would take two agents to arrest somebody, now
they need five or six or seven agents because you
have to have other agents watching the crowd, watching the protesters.
And you know, it's the same thing like when a
police officer makes a traffic stop and someone else runs
up to the situation and inserts themself self in it.
(04:57):
It just makes everything that that much more dangerous. You know,
we didn't see this problem in New Orleans, or in
Memphis and in other cities where ICE and Border patrol
were simply doing their jobs. And now there has been
(05:18):
this created situation that we're calling ICE derangements syndrome where
people are literally posting, oh ices here, ICE is there
when it's actually their local law enforcement or it's their
local deputy sheriff or whatever. Somebody in I think it
(05:40):
was in Maryland in Howard County said, oh, these are
ICE agents in a situation where they were trying to
arrest a child predator. So this has gotten it's just
gotten crazy, and it's making it dangerous rita for all
of law enforcement, not just federal agents.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Well, that why President Trump Betsy has been saying, you know, okay,
let's calm the temperatures down and in other words, just
exactly to where you said, cooperate with US law enforcement.
It's not law enforcement that's not doing it. It's because
they're being directed by the governor in these quote sanctuary
cities and states told to stand down, right, So that's
(06:19):
why they have to bring in customs and border enforcement.
Think about, to your point, how much more seamless it
would be if the governor had said, we'll work with
you to get rid of the worst of the worst.
This is a good thing for the community.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
And we're still hopeful that that could happen. You know,
based on statements today from President Trump and Governor Walls,
it would be fantastic if the states and the you know,
the whole miniap Greater Minneapolis Saint Paul area, all the
chiefs and the sheriff there would cooperate with Ice and
(06:57):
make sure that when you know, if they have people
and there's supposedly about a thousand people right now in
local and county jail in that area who have ICE detainers.
Turn those people over, don't turn them loose into neighborhoods.
Turn them over, which is what other states and other
counties and other cities do, turn them over to ICE
(07:21):
without all this public display and this public inks. And again,
let ICE continue to do their job, continue their investigations,
continue their arrest so that they can move on.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
How much do you think some of the rhetoric clearly
from somebody like a governor Tom Waltz there in Minnesota,
or even also the Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frye saying, you know,
get the f out of Minneapolis ICE, And then you've
seen Waltz comparing them to the Gestapo in World War Two.
I mean, what a horrible comparison. And don't you think
(08:00):
that just fuels the flames and emboldens these people to
get out there and really get in many cases violent
against law enforcement or anything attached to it.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Well, absolutely, the dangerous rhetoric coming from those two men.
And now we know because of quote unquote, you know
Signal Gate too, we're seeing these signal threads by activists,
and we now know that on one of those signal
threads the administrator is the Lieutenant governor of Minnesota who
(08:34):
is encouraging people to interfere with ICE when you I mean,
I believe it was Tim Walls who compared to ICE
what ICE is doing now to the persecution of an Frank. Yes,
it's insane, Rita. This is not reality based. And what
this does it emboldens people, people who may think they're
(08:58):
doing the right thing, like a good and like Alex
Pretty and now those two people are dead and it
didn't help save a single person. These poor people are
being I believe, used by the far left sanctuary politicians
(09:21):
and paid activists to do their dirty work and interfere
with law enforcement.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
How much of this do you believe is paid? A
lot of people seem to think that a lot of
money even is getting funneled through some of these nonprofits
and ending up to support these often violent protests across
the country. I mean, if you look at it, Betsy,
you see they have you know, similar shirts on or
suddenly produced signs, and like you said, very organized with
(09:48):
signal you know communications, a lot of different sort of messaging,
but very similar messaging and huge crowds, and even there
have been a number of protesters. If you look at
some the shows out there, they don't hide it that
they're getting paid.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Well, yeah, I would guess well over half of these
people are being paid. Plus somebody has to pay for
the travel and the hotel rooms and the food and
the like you said, the professional signs and the camera
equipment and things like that. So this is obviously fairly
well funded. I did see today that Governor Wallace has
(10:25):
the National Guard out there giving some of the rioters
coffee and donuts. Why isn't he using his national Guard
to assist law enforcement and help keep law enforcement safe.
It's just baffling, Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
And it brings up the question too, to what political
end you think about. It's an election year. There's a
lot of issues. Of course, with Somali fraud in Minnesota,
they certainly have a lot of their problems. How much
of you know, a lot of people believe this is
a diversionary tactic if you will sort of keep the
light off, and also to embolden, you know, these individuals
(11:03):
to say, hey, look I stood up to Ice, I
stood up to Trump, that they don't even mind that
they are villainizing noble men and women in law enforcement
as long as it helps with their political gains.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
What do you believe, Well, I think you're absolutely right.
You know, we're really not talking about autism center fraud
and daycare fraud. And you know, even though these investigations
are continuing, they're not particularly in the media, and that's
very frustrating. We're also not talking about the really bad
(11:38):
people that ICE is trying to take off the streets.
And again, I think that if DHS continues to put
out those you know, those lists of people that they're
trying to arrest or have arrested, it would be great
if Tim Wallas and Jacob Fry would talk about how
(12:01):
their communities are going to be safer without these people.
But yet they make comments and their media likes to
talk about, you know, five year old being arrested by
ICE and people being quote unquote disappeared off the streets.
If they would just tell the truth, that would bring
the tone down.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Yeah, it definitely would be although I don't know if
we're there yet. Sadly, you know, as we're looking at
also that case, I want to go back to the
case the recent one of course of Alex Pretty, this
thirty seven year old Minneapolis man, and obviously it is
it's just it's very sad. Of course what happened, it's terrible.
But as you look at it that you brought up
the point also the gun gun gun, and yeah, you
(12:43):
got a loaded gun. And apparently there were two other
full magazines. So that's a lot of rounds. Why would
you bring that to a protest, especially one that's getting
completely out of control? To what end? Guess there is
conceal Carrie and he was allowed to do it, but
(13:03):
doesn't like just you said, that raises the stakes if
you know, if law enforcement sees it on you, or
if somebody else were to see it on you and
grab it.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Well, I want to remind everybody that the Attorney General
of Minnesota just last year argued with about eighteen other
attorneys general in the United States that there should be
federal legislation stating that you can't bring a firearm to
a protest, you know, and of course they got sidewise
(13:34):
with a second Amendment. Folks, Look, if you want to
legally carry your firearm to a protest or to be
an observer, that's fine. But when you insert yourself and
put your hands on a law enforcement officer and your armed,
that's when it becomes a problem. You know, Alex Petty,
(13:58):
you know, had a concealed carry permit and all that,
he was well within his right to carry that firearm.
He had no right to lay hands on a law
enforcement officer and interrupt that whole situation. And so that's why.
And I've seen all the tactical experts, you know, talking
about this situation. The videos. We haven't seen bodycam video,
(14:21):
and we haven't heard any you know, about any of
the interviews of the agents. So the Supreme Court tells
us we have to have objective reasonableness. In other words,
we got to look at that whole situation from the
police officer's eyes, from the agent's eyes, instead of freeze
framing every little bit of video and saying, oh, he
(14:43):
should have done this, they should have done that. It's
what did the officer perceive? And bringing that handgun into
that situation where you're attacking a police officer was a
terrible idea.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
You know, you bring up a great point. In other words,
what the the court will decide is what was in
the officer's mind, did he have a reasonable he or
she have a reasonableness to being afraid and concerned at
that moment? And often courts definitely seem to have deference
to law enforcement, especially in a situation like this, don't
(15:19):
you think? Oh?
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Absolutely? And the Supreme Court has said many times in
many cases, you know, they have upheld that reasonable officer
standard and that they that the judges have to put themselves,
you know, into the mind of the police officer. What
did that police officer perceive? And when you're an agent
yelling gun gun, gun, oof, that just makes the hair
(15:45):
on the back of my neck rise. And I've been
retired for years, so that was such a chaotic, frightening situation.
And we also have to give these officers some grace rita.
They are lacking sleep because their hotels are being attacked,
they are being spit on, the nastiest things are being
(16:06):
said to them. They are being threatened, Their families are
being threatened. They are being docks. They have these loud
whistles in their ears all the time and bullhorns. These
poor agents are so on edge, and you know, nobody
knows better than you. They're not robots, They're.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
People, right, no, and you bring up the climate that
they're dealing with. I mean, there was a recent incident
at the hotel there where they storm into the hotel
and like, oh it is ice here, Like they're like,
you know, they're searching. What would they have done if
they got to a room of an ICE officer and
say he or she was sleeping? I mean, what were
they And you brought up also the point they're throwing things.
(16:46):
The other day they were throwing ice bottles. It's freezing
in Minneapolis. A frozen ice bottle, frozen ice weighing I
don't know how much, but it goes into somebody's head.
That could kill somebody. And that's what That's the least
of what they're dealing with.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
And that's exactly it. These these poor agents, you know,
they feel like here I am doing my job. That
There was a great video about a week ago of
an ICE agent pulling up to some quote unquote observers
who were following them around. He literally rolled down the
window of the vehicle and he said, we're going to
(17:23):
arrest a child molester. And you want to interrupt it,
don't you understand? You know, he was just a young
agent trying to plead with these people. Don't you want
us to arrest child molesters?
Speaker 4 (17:35):
You know?
Speaker 3 (17:35):
And and that's what you know these ice agents do
you know? They become ice agents because they want to
help protect their country. And we keep hearing too, Oh,
they're poorly trained. They don't know what they're doing. The
agent who fired the shots at Alex Pretti has eight
years on the job and he's a firearms instructor. He's
(17:57):
not some untrained rogue cup. But these poor agents are
being maligned. And remember the agent who shot Renee Good,
who was then hospitalized with internal injuries. His family had
to flee their home in the Minneapolis suburbs.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah, it's incredible.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
He was doing his job.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
It's really it is. It's so heartbreaking. And finally, Betsy,
before we let you go, just what you said. It
is so heartbreaking to see this situation. How concerned are
you if things continue or even get worse? I mean
this is to me as an American to watch what's happening,
to see law enforcement vilified so much, and these people
(18:37):
riled up by politicians, which I agree with, you don't
have their best interests at heart. It's a very dangerous
tinder box in Minneapolis. How concerned when you see what's
been happening in the last few weeks, that this is
happening in the country that you know and.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Love, It's extremely concerning. I know Minneapolis well, I have
trained all of the state of Minnesota, and I know
that this isn't what people want, and this isn't what
law enforcement wants. But Jacob fray Fry, Tim Walls, they
can change this. And I hope that they have this
(19:16):
dialogue with Tom Holman who is coming in and with
Donald Trump, and we stop all of this nonsense and
they let the federal government do their job and then
go on to the next city. Because these people have
to be arrested and removed from this country. And let's
(19:37):
never forget why we're where we are are because of
the horrific open border policies of Joe Biden bringing in
criminal after criminal after criminal, and all Ice is trying
to do is remove them.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Yeah. Absolutely, and that's why we're in this circumstance where
suddenly twenty millis came across our borders, including some very
very bad individuals, I mean hundreds of thousands of them,
and we should be appreciative of those who are trying
to get them off the streets and out of the
country one hundred percent. Will everybody be sure to subscribe
and share to this really powerful podcast. Sergeant Betsy Brandnor Smith,
(20:20):
the spokesperson there with the National Police Association, we love you,
we appreciate you, and thank you for all you and
the thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people that you represent.
Thank you, thanks for having me, Rita and everybody.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
I'll be back soon with another great addition of protecting America,
and of course you can catch me every weeknight ten
pm to midnight on the legendary WABC Radio. This is
Rita Cosby.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
And thanks for all you do to protect America.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
Fritsch
The Red Apple Media Podcast Network presents This is Protecting
America Now. Here's Emmy winning journalist Rita Cosby.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And welcome to another edition of Protecting America. I'm Rita Cosby. Well,
the recent two fatal shootings by federal law enforcement in
Minneapolis and the out of control crowds and attacks against
federal agents like ice and Customs and Border Protection are
(00:35):
dominating the headlines. And joining us now to discuss this
and more is Sergeant Betsy brandtn Or Smith. She's a
spokesperson with the National Police Association and also a retired
Chicago area police officer. Sergeant Betsy Brantner Smith, It's great
to have you here.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Rita, thanks so much for having me back.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
What's your reaction when you see the videos and some
of the different discussions surrounding this latest shooting of this individual,
thirty seventy years old Alex Pretty in Minneapolis.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Well, it's this, of course is a tragedy, but when
I look at these videos from all angles, as someone
who was a copper twenty nine years I feel that
fear and I feel that angst that those agents are
obviously feeling. This is such a frustrating situation because they
(01:34):
there was a woman that was you know, they were
trying to take custody of her for whatever reason. And
then Alex Pretty inserts himself into an arrest situation, and
then you know, he gets into this altercation with the agents,
and then we don't really know even looking at all
the angles who fired that first shot, but you hear
(01:58):
the agent at one of the agency l gun gun gun,
and that is such a horrible situation to be in,
and then of course chaos ensues and it's difficult for
everyone around. You know, no police officer wakes up and says, oh,
I hope I get to shoot somebody today. So this
(02:20):
is a tragedy and it was very preventable. Reader, I
think that's the worst part of it.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
How do you think this could have been prevented. There's
a lot of things I can think of, but I
want your expertise.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Alex Pretty should have kept his hands off law enforcement.
It's very very simple. If you feel the need as
he did, to go and record what Border patrol or
ICE agents are doing, or to peacefully protest, that is
your right. But when you see ice or this was
(02:55):
Border patrol putting their hands on somebody that they are
trying to arrest. You cannot go and insert yourself into that,
whether or not you're armed. We now know he was armed,
but you cannot interrupt a lawful arrest. And there's where
things went terribly wrong.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
You know. You bring up the point too. You're right,
he inserted himself. He injected himself. Explain how dangerous that
is just in general for law enforcement when somebody does that,
and when you're dealing with a big crowd. This was
the area where there have been a lot of arrests
I understand of illegal immigrants. They were going after their
(03:37):
original target, not necessarily the person at that moment, but
the original target why they were in the area was
to get somebody who had I think it was a
domestic assault and some other things, so had a criminal history.
Kind of explain just how dangerous it is, and I
think you understand it better than so many people. When
you're in that environment, you got a lot of buildings,
(03:58):
you're in an urban set, you have all a very
hostile crowd towards ice them and throwing bottles. Just how
unpredictable that situation is and dangerous just in general for
law enforcement going in.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Well, absolutely, and you said the right word, unpredictable. Those
agents have no idea as they're trying to arrest this
woman what the crowd is doing. And that's why you're
seeing this influx of ICE and Border patrol into the
Minneapolis area because what is happening In a normal situation
(04:34):
where it would take two agents to arrest somebody, now
they need five or six or seven agents because you
have to have other agents watching the crowd, watching the protesters.
And you know, it's the same thing like when a
police officer makes a traffic stop and someone else runs
up to the situation and inserts themself self in it.
(04:57):
It just makes everything that that much more dangerous. You know,
we didn't see this problem in New Orleans, or in
Memphis and in other cities where ICE and Border patrol
were simply doing their jobs. And now there has been
(05:18):
this created situation that we're calling ICE derangements syndrome where
people are literally posting, oh ices here, ICE is there
when it's actually their local law enforcement or it's their
local deputy sheriff or whatever. Somebody in I think it
(05:40):
was in Maryland in Howard County said, oh, these are
ICE agents in a situation where they were trying to
arrest a child predator. So this has gotten it's just
gotten crazy, and it's making it dangerous rita for all
of law enforcement, not just federal agents.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Well, that why President Trump Betsy has been saying, you know, okay,
let's calm the temperatures down and in other words, just
exactly to where you said, cooperate with US law enforcement.
It's not law enforcement that's not doing it. It's because
they're being directed by the governor in these quote sanctuary
cities and states told to stand down, right, So that's
(06:19):
why they have to bring in customs and border enforcement.
Think about, to your point, how much more seamless it
would be if the governor had said, we'll work with
you to get rid of the worst of the worst.
This is a good thing for the community.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
And we're still hopeful that that could happen. You know,
based on statements today from President Trump and Governor Walls,
it would be fantastic if the states and the you know,
the whole miniap Greater Minneapolis Saint Paul area, all the
chiefs and the sheriff there would cooperate with Ice and
(06:57):
make sure that when you know, if they have people
and there's supposedly about a thousand people right now in
local and county jail in that area who have ICE detainers.
Turn those people over, don't turn them loose into neighborhoods.
Turn them over, which is what other states and other
counties and other cities do, turn them over to ICE
(07:21):
without all this public display and this public inks. And again,
let ICE continue to do their job, continue their investigations,
continue their arrest so that they can move on.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
How much do you think some of the rhetoric clearly
from somebody like a governor Tom Waltz there in Minnesota,
or even also the Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frye saying, you know,
get the f out of Minneapolis ICE, And then you've
seen Waltz comparing them to the Gestapo in World War Two.
I mean, what a horrible comparison. And don't you think
(08:00):
that just fuels the flames and emboldens these people to
get out there and really get in many cases violent
against law enforcement or anything attached to it.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Well, absolutely, the dangerous rhetoric coming from those two men.
And now we know because of quote unquote, you know
Signal Gate too, we're seeing these signal threads by activists,
and we now know that on one of those signal
threads the administrator is the Lieutenant governor of Minnesota who
(08:34):
is encouraging people to interfere with ICE when you I mean,
I believe it was Tim Walls who compared to ICE
what ICE is doing now to the persecution of an Frank. Yes,
it's insane, Rita. This is not reality based. And what
this does it emboldens people, people who may think they're
(08:58):
doing the right thing, like a good and like Alex
Pretty and now those two people are dead and it
didn't help save a single person. These poor people are
being I believe, used by the far left sanctuary politicians
(09:21):
and paid activists to do their dirty work and interfere
with law enforcement.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
How much of this do you believe is paid? A
lot of people seem to think that a lot of
money even is getting funneled through some of these nonprofits
and ending up to support these often violent protests across
the country. I mean, if you look at it, Betsy,
you see they have you know, similar shirts on or
suddenly produced signs, and like you said, very organized with
(09:48):
signal you know communications, a lot of different sort of messaging,
but very similar messaging and huge crowds, and even there
have been a number of protesters. If you look at
some the shows out there, they don't hide it that
they're getting paid.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Well, yeah, I would guess well over half of these
people are being paid. Plus somebody has to pay for
the travel and the hotel rooms and the food and
the like you said, the professional signs and the camera
equipment and things like that. So this is obviously fairly
well funded. I did see today that Governor Wallace has
(10:25):
the National Guard out there giving some of the rioters
coffee and donuts. Why isn't he using his national Guard
to assist law enforcement and help keep law enforcement safe.
It's just baffling, Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
And it brings up the question too, to what political
end you think about. It's an election year. There's a
lot of issues. Of course, with Somali fraud in Minnesota,
they certainly have a lot of their problems. How much
of you know, a lot of people believe this is
a diversionary tactic if you will sort of keep the
light off, and also to embolden, you know, these individuals
(11:03):
to say, hey, look I stood up to Ice, I
stood up to Trump, that they don't even mind that
they are villainizing noble men and women in law enforcement
as long as it helps with their political gains.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
What do you believe, Well, I think you're absolutely right.
You know, we're really not talking about autism center fraud
and daycare fraud. And you know, even though these investigations
are continuing, they're not particularly in the media, and that's
very frustrating. We're also not talking about the really bad
(11:38):
people that ICE is trying to take off the streets.
And again, I think that if DHS continues to put
out those you know, those lists of people that they're
trying to arrest or have arrested, it would be great
if Tim Wallas and Jacob Fry would talk about how
(12:01):
their communities are going to be safer without these people.
But yet they make comments and their media likes to
talk about, you know, five year old being arrested by
ICE and people being quote unquote disappeared off the streets.
If they would just tell the truth, that would bring
the tone down.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Yeah, it definitely would be although I don't know if
we're there yet. Sadly, you know, as we're looking at
also that case, I want to go back to the
case the recent one of course of Alex Pretty, this
thirty seven year old Minneapolis man, and obviously it is
it's just it's very sad. Of course what happened, it's terrible.
But as you look at it that you brought up
the point also the gun gun gun, and yeah, you
(12:43):
got a loaded gun. And apparently there were two other
full magazines. So that's a lot of rounds. Why would
you bring that to a protest, especially one that's getting
completely out of control? To what end? Guess there is
conceal Carrie and he was allowed to do it, but
(13:03):
doesn't like just you said, that raises the stakes if
you know, if law enforcement sees it on you, or
if somebody else were to see it on you and
grab it.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Well, I want to remind everybody that the Attorney General
of Minnesota just last year argued with about eighteen other
attorneys general in the United States that there should be
federal legislation stating that you can't bring a firearm to
a protest, you know, and of course they got sidewise
(13:34):
with a second Amendment. Folks, Look, if you want to
legally carry your firearm to a protest or to be
an observer, that's fine. But when you insert yourself and
put your hands on a law enforcement officer and your armed,
that's when it becomes a problem. You know, Alex Petty,
(13:58):
you know, had a concealed carry permit and all that,
he was well within his right to carry that firearm.
He had no right to lay hands on a law
enforcement officer and interrupt that whole situation. And so that's why.
And I've seen all the tactical experts, you know, talking
about this situation. The videos. We haven't seen bodycam video,
(14:21):
and we haven't heard any you know, about any of
the interviews of the agents. So the Supreme Court tells
us we have to have objective reasonableness. In other words,
we got to look at that whole situation from the
police officer's eyes, from the agent's eyes, instead of freeze
framing every little bit of video and saying, oh, he
(14:43):
should have done this, they should have done that. It's
what did the officer perceive? And bringing that handgun into
that situation where you're attacking a police officer was a
terrible idea.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
You know, you bring up a great point. In other words,
what the the court will decide is what was in
the officer's mind, did he have a reasonable he or
she have a reasonableness to being afraid and concerned at
that moment? And often courts definitely seem to have deference
to law enforcement, especially in a situation like this, don't
(15:19):
you think? Oh?
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Absolutely? And the Supreme Court has said many times in
many cases, you know, they have upheld that reasonable officer
standard and that they that the judges have to put themselves,
you know, into the mind of the police officer. What
did that police officer perceive? And when you're an agent
yelling gun gun, gun, oof, that just makes the hair
(15:45):
on the back of my neck rise. And I've been
retired for years, so that was such a chaotic, frightening situation.
And we also have to give these officers some grace rita.
They are lacking sleep because their hotels are being attacked,
they are being spit on, the nastiest things are being
(16:06):
said to them. They are being threatened, Their families are
being threatened. They are being docks. They have these loud
whistles in their ears all the time and bullhorns. These
poor agents are so on edge, and you know, nobody
knows better than you. They're not robots, They're.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
People, right, no, and you bring up the climate that
they're dealing with. I mean, there was a recent incident
at the hotel there where they storm into the hotel
and like, oh it is ice here, Like they're like,
you know, they're searching. What would they have done if
they got to a room of an ICE officer and
say he or she was sleeping? I mean, what were
they And you brought up also the point they're throwing things.
(16:46):
The other day they were throwing ice bottles. It's freezing
in Minneapolis. A frozen ice bottle, frozen ice weighing I
don't know how much, but it goes into somebody's head.
That could kill somebody. And that's what That's the least
of what they're dealing with.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
And that's exactly it. These these poor agents, you know,
they feel like here I am doing my job. That
There was a great video about a week ago of
an ICE agent pulling up to some quote unquote observers
who were following them around. He literally rolled down the
window of the vehicle and he said, we're going to
(17:23):
arrest a child molester. And you want to interrupt it,
don't you understand? You know, he was just a young
agent trying to plead with these people. Don't you want
us to arrest child molesters?
Speaker 4 (17:35):
You know?
Speaker 3 (17:35):
And and that's what you know these ice agents do
you know? They become ice agents because they want to
help protect their country. And we keep hearing too, Oh,
they're poorly trained. They don't know what they're doing. The
agent who fired the shots at Alex Pretti has eight
years on the job and he's a firearms instructor. He's
(17:57):
not some untrained rogue cup. But these poor agents are
being maligned. And remember the agent who shot Renee Good,
who was then hospitalized with internal injuries. His family had
to flee their home in the Minneapolis suburbs.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah, it's incredible.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
He was doing his job.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
It's really it is. It's so heartbreaking. And finally, Betsy,
before we let you go, just what you said. It
is so heartbreaking to see this situation. How concerned are
you if things continue or even get worse? I mean
this is to me as an American to watch what's happening,
to see law enforcement vilified so much, and these people
(18:37):
riled up by politicians, which I agree with, you don't
have their best interests at heart. It's a very dangerous
tinder box in Minneapolis. How concerned when you see what's
been happening in the last few weeks, that this is
happening in the country that you know and.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Love, It's extremely concerning. I know Minneapolis well, I have
trained all of the state of Minnesota, and I know
that this isn't what people want, and this isn't what
law enforcement wants. But Jacob fray Fry, Tim Walls, they
can change this. And I hope that they have this
(19:16):
dialogue with Tom Holman who is coming in and with
Donald Trump, and we stop all of this nonsense and
they let the federal government do their job and then
go on to the next city. Because these people have
to be arrested and removed from this country. And let's
(19:37):
never forget why we're where we are are because of
the horrific open border policies of Joe Biden bringing in
criminal after criminal after criminal, and all Ice is trying
to do is remove them.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Yeah. Absolutely, and that's why we're in this circumstance where
suddenly twenty millis came across our borders, including some very
very bad individuals, I mean hundreds of thousands of them,
and we should be appreciative of those who are trying
to get them off the streets and out of the
country one hundred percent. Will everybody be sure to subscribe
and share to this really powerful podcast. Sergeant Betsy Brandnor Smith,
(20:20):
the spokesperson there with the National Police Association, we love you,
we appreciate you, and thank you for all you and
the thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people that you represent.
Thank you, thanks for having me, Rita and everybody.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
I'll be back soon with another great addition of protecting America,
and of course you can catch me every weeknight ten
pm to midnight on the legendary WABC Radio. This is
Rita Cosby.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
And thanks for all you do to protect America.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
Fritsch
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