Borrenpohl Sues County Sheriff and 6 Men Who Dragged Her From Coeur d’Alene Town Hall

Dr. Teresa Borrenpohl initiated a $5 million lawsuit against Kootenai County Sheriff Robert Norris and the 6 men facing various charges for their roles in dragging her out of a Republican town hall meeting in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Her lawsuit asserts that they violated her constitutional rights:

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.

Four of the men face charges of misdemeanor battery, false imprisonment, and violations of security agent duties and uniform requirements worked for Lear Asset Management as private security. They are Paul Trouette, Russell Dunne, Christofer Berg and Jesse Jones. A fifth Lear employee, Alex Trouette, faces charges regarding security agent duties and uniform violations. The city revoked their employer’s license after the incident.

The sixth man Michael Keller did not work for Lear but is charged with misdemeanor battery.

All six were in plain clothes without insignia and refused Borrenpohl’s requests to identify themselves.

Norris is under investigation, not facing any charges so far. He wore jeans and a baseball cap at the town hall meeting and also refused to answer her requests to identify himself.

Borrenpohl is a former Democratic candidate for state office. She was among several who heckled Republican state lawmakers on the stage at the town hall meeting, but was the only one singled out to be manhandled from the room.

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