Private security guards seen on video forcibly removing an activist from a February town hall meeting in Idaho have been criminally charged.
On Monday, the Coeur d’Alene City Attorney’s office said that five men associated with a private security firm were facing a range of charges, including battery, false imprisonment and security agent duty violations.
Teresa Borrenpohl was dragged out of the meeting at Coeur d’Alene High School on Feb. 22.
In video shared by meeting organizers, the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, someone can be heard disrupting the meeting by shouting, “What? Are you serious right now?” about 43 minutes into the town hall while Republican state Rep. Tony Wisniewski was speaking about abortion.
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Shortly afterward, the video shows a group of men descending upon Borrenpohl, who is wearing a blue jacket. One man wearing a hat then places his hands on her arm in an attempt to get her to stand.
A second man then shows up, trying to do the same, and Borrenpohl asks, “Who are you?”
After a back and forth confrontation, Borrenpohl shouts, “Excuse me, Sheriff Norris? This gentleman is assaulting me. Is this your deputy?”
Borrenpohl is eventually pulled from her seat, and held on the ground in the auditorium’s aisle while asking the men to identify themselves.
“They’re pulling my hair,” she can be heard saying.
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Paul Trouette, Russell Dunne, Christofer Berg and Jesse Jones have been charged with misdemeanor battery, false imprisonment, and violations of security agent duties and uniform requirements.
Alex Trouette IV is charged with security agent duties and uniform violations.
All five of the men are associated with the private security firm Lear Asset Management, which had its license revoked by the city after the town hall, the Associated Press reported.
Roughly 450 people attended the legislative town hall, organizers said.
“For clarification, there were no Kootenai County Deputy Sheriff’s or other personnel present at or involved in this incident. The Coeur d’Alene Police Department is handling the criminal investigation regarding this matter,” a February statement from the county sheriff’s office said.
Although the police department did not immediately get back to Fox News Digital, a previous statement read, “The Coeur d’Alene Police Department recognizes and values all rights afforded by the United States Constitution to all citizens, including the right to free speech.”
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Borrenpohl is a Democratic legislative candidate who has run unsuccessfully in the deeply Republican region. She did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment, but the AP reports she formally notified Kootenai County officials on Monday of her intent to sue by filing a tort claim notice.
“Town halls are intended to foster conversation and discourse across the aisle, which is why I am deeply alarmed that private security dragged me out of the public meeting for simply exercising my fundamental right of free speech,” Borrenpohl said in a Monday media release obtained by the AP.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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