Cd’A prosecutors drop battery charges against woman dragged out of town hall

COEUR d’ALENE — City prosecutors will dismiss a misdemeanor battery citation issued to the Post Falls woman who plainclothes private security guards dragged out of a legislative town hall Saturday, and the city of Coeur d’Alene has revoked the security company’s business license. 

The legislative town hall organized by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee descended into chaos when security personnel, later confirmed to be employees of LEAR Asset Management, dragged Teresa Borrenpohl from the Coeur d’Alene High School auditorium after she heckled legislators. 

“The city prosecuting attorney’s office has moved to dismiss the citation against Borrenpohl in the interest of justice,” said a news release issued Monday by the Coeur d’Alene Police Department. 

As the town hall got underway and legislators made their remarks, Borrenpohl said the audience cheered and jeered at turns.    

“Nobody was telling people cheering to stop cheering, but any time there was a negative reaction, we were scolded,” she told The Press late Saturday evening. “I felt comfortable expressing displeasure because people were very openly expressing their appreciation for the legislators there.”   

Borrenpohl said she didn’t recognize Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris at first when he approached her in the semidarkness of the auditorium because he was dressed in jeans and a baseball cap.   

“I was really dumbfounded because he said, ‘Do you want me to pepper spray you?’” she recalled. “That was the first thing he said to me that I remember.”   

Footage from the event showed Norris take Borrenpohl’s arm with both hands and make multiple attempts to pull her from her seat.    

Borrenpohl said that after she declined to leave, Norris turned to the unidentified men and said, “Guys, get her.”  

On video, Borrenpohl can be seen repeatedly asking the men to identify themselves. They did not. She asked Norris if the men were his deputies, and he gave no answer.  

Kootenai County GOP officials said Saturday that they didn’t know which company provided security for their event and told the Press to seek that information from the sheriff.   

“Bob (Norris) was right there,” KCRCC chair Brent Regan said. “Nothing was done without him being aware.” 

Norris denied knowledge of the event’s security arrangements and said he didn’t know the security personnel. 

“The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office is aware of the incident involving Sheriff Norris at the town hall event on Saturday,” said a news release issued Monday by Undersheriff Brett Nelson. “For clarification, there were no Kootenai County deputy sheriffs or other personnel present at or involved in this incident.” 

Nelson said the sheriff’s office will undergo “a complete and independent investigation of the incident conducted by an outside agency.” 

Norris said his handling of Borrenpohl was in line with protocols that were set before the town hall began, though he did not explain what the protocols were or who had set them.  

“(Borrenpohl) was asked to leave,” he said on Sunday. “She was asked to leave.”  

With recordings of Norris and the security guards pulling on Borrenpohl circulating widely on social media, Norris said he’s received death threats and he believes the incident is not being covered fairly.  

“(The security guards’) reaction was to (Borrenpohl’s) action,” Norris said. “The reason why that occurred was because people came to disrupt.” 

In a public Facebook post, the Kootenai County GOP echoed the sentiment. 

“None of this would have happened if Borrenpohl had been respectful of others,” the post said. “Her failure to follow the simple rules of decorum caused an 18-minute delay in the meeting and reduced the number of questions the legislators had time to answer.” 

White said it’s not appropriate for law enforcement to forcefully remove a person from a town hall for speaking out of turn or shouting.  

“I don’t care what your message is, especially in an open town hall like this,” White said. “We have to respect everybody’s First Amendment rights, regardless of what side of the aisle you happen to sit on. I know there’s some people up here who probably disagree with me and would like us to take action and maybe try to silence a voice that’s in opposition to theirs at a town hall, but there’s very little we can do with regard to First Amendment protections. We have to make sure people have the protections afforded them under the Constitution.”  

Borrenpohl said she remembers “hands coming from everywhere” trying to haul her from her seat and pushing her to the ground. To her left, she said, she heard friends defending her while people across the aisle jeered at her and applauded the men who were attempting to remove her from the auditorium.  

As the men dragged her down the aisle, Borrenpohl lost her shoe, and at one point, her shirt nearly came off.  

“It was really violent and really traumatic,” she said. “They had grabbed my wrists. They contorted my body. They lifted me up and dropped me down. My only thought was to maintain my airway. They were forcing me down on the ground. I just wanted to make sure I could still breathe.” 

Borrenpohl said she bit one of the men who was dragging her from the auditorium.    

“I didn’t know if I was being detained by what I now knew to be the sheriff’s office or if these were private hired guns,” she said. “I was so confused and I didn’t know if I was being arrested by the sheriff’s office or if I was being kidnapped.” 

Based on the “limited information” available to the responding officers at the time, Coeur d’Alene police cited and released Borrenpohl for battery due to the bite. But since then, investigators have reviewed more evidence, including video recordings that showed what happened before officers arrived outside the auditorium. 

In light of “all new evidence and video related to the event,” city prosecutors will dismiss the citation. 

White said his officers declined the sheriff’s request that Borrenpohl be arrested for trespassing.  

“We respectfully informed the sheriff that, since this was an open to the public event, we are not going to arrest anyone for trespassing,” White said. “That would be inappropriate.” 

Meanwhile, the city has revoked the business license for LEAR Asset Management for violating city ordinances related to security agencies and agents. 

Coeur d’Alene city code requires security agents to wear uniforms “clearly marked” with the word “security” in letters no less than 1 inch tall on the front and no less than four inches tall on the back. The security personnel at Saturday’s town hall were in plainclothes, with no visible sign they were security.  

When the Coeur d’Alene City Council approved the uniform requirement last summer, Trouette testified against the change.  

“Paul Trouette contacted me and told me they wouldn’t be doing any security of that type in our city, and yet, here they are,” White said on Sunday. 

Norris said he was invited to lead the Pledge of Allegiance at the town hall and remained onsite after doing so because of a recent threat against Rep. Jordan Redman, R-Coeur d’Alene.    

On Saturday morning, Coeur d’Alene police were investigating a threat against Redman’s office that originated on social media. White said his agency only learned about the town hall because Redman mentioned it when they spoke with him about the threat.   

Coeur d’Alene police officers were in the parking lot at CHS during the town hall in case the Shoshone County resident who allegedly made the threat appeared, White said. When there was a disturbance in the auditorium, no one alerted the officers until after Borrenpohl had been removed.   

Norris said this was because it wasn’t the agency’s place to act.     

“They don’t have jurisdiction,” he said of the Coeur d’Alene Police Department. “They would not have come into a private event held at the high school, and the person who secures the location gets to set the protocols of what occurs.”     

White pushed back on Norris’ comment. Coeur d’Alene High School is squarely within his agency’s jurisdiction, he said, and his officers would’ve entered the building had they been called sooner.     

“We would’ve stood by to make sure no one was in danger, while at the same time protecting people’s First Amendment rights,” he said.  

Borrenpohl ran as a Democrat for a legislative seat in 2020, 2022 and 2024. During the past several years, amid North Idaho College’s accreditation crisis, she vocally criticized three former NIC trustees who were backed by the Kootenai County GOP.   

“I didn’t know if I was in trouble for saying Phil Hart stole from public lands or if it was because I’m a known Democrat in the area,” she said.   

The town hall was meant to be a forum where constituents could engage with their legislators, Borrenpohl said.   

She said she was denied that opportunity. Borrenpohl also alleges she was assaulted.

“I think that my civil rights were stripped from me in that moment in a really embarrassing way,” she said. “Admittedly, I spoke out of turn. But do we live in a country where you speak out of turn and the result is three men assaulting a woman?”

A crowdfunding campaign for Borrenpohl’s legal costs had raised more than $173,000 by 5 p.m. Monday, less than 24 hours after the campaign launched.