Police Use of Force and Federal Accountability

Career prosecutors in the Justice Department Civil Rights Division who specialize in excessive-force and police-shooting cases have been largely excluded from the investigation into the Jan. 24 killing of Minneapolis ICU nurse Alex Pretti by two U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, multiple sources told CBS News. Instead, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon has assigned Brandon Wrobleski, an employment-litigation lawyer with no prior federal criminal-case experience, to work with two prosecutors in the Minneapolis U.S. Attorney’s Office, while Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Robert Keenan is also involved. The move breaks with past practice in federal agent–involved shootings and comes after viral video undercut early DHS claims that Pretti brandished a gun and after DHS Secretary Kristi Noem publicly and inaccurately labeled Pretti a domestic terrorist who reached for a firearm. Former Civil Rights Division line prosecutor Sam Trepel and other veterans say bypassing the division’s criminal section raises doubts about whether the Trump administration is serious about a rigorous, independent civil-rights probe, especially given Keenan’s recent role in seeking dismissals or lighter sentences in other high-profile force cases, including one tied to Breonna Taylor’s death. DOJ insists it is taking the case seriously and that “experienced career prosecutors” are handling it, but internal disquiet and online civil-rights advocacy are already framing the staffing choices as a potential attempt to blunt accountability for federal agents in Minneapolis and beyond.