Suspects bound over for alleged attack

COEUR d’ALENE — A woman and four teens have been bound over to district court for their roles in an alleged attack at a gas station.

First District Judge Clark Peterson ruled Friday that the state failed to meet the burden of proof needed to bind two of the defendants over on the original charges.

Tracy L. Bremner, 43, of Athol, is charged with aggravated assault, a felony, for allegedly threatening a man at knifepoint.

The state originally charged Bremner with criminal conspiracy and injury to a child, both felonies, but later dropped the charges.

The charges stem from October, when an Athol man said he was jumped by a group of teens at a gas station.

Security footage showed the man parked at a gas pump around 9 p.m., when an SUV pulled up and boxed him in.

Four teens — three boys and a girl — jumped ut of the SUV, according to court documents, and swarmed the man’s truck.

The teen girl reportedly hit the man in the head with a baseball bat, causing him to fall to the ground, then continued to beat him. The group kicked him and stomped him, police said.

When the girl threw the bat at the man, he grabbed the weapon and “fought his way back to his feet,” according to court documents.

One of the teens — later identified as 18-year-old Hayden resident Dax M. Heisler — allegedly attempted to stab the man.

The man reportedly hit one of the teens with the bat before he reached his truck and drove off.

He reportedly sought medical care.

A gas station employee told police he witnessed the event but didn’t contact law enforcement because “he didn’t think he had to.”

The man said Bremner came to his residence the night of the attack and threatened him with a knife.

He said the teens also came to his residence, where they smashed the windows of his truck and slashed his tires.

Police determined that Bremner is the registered owner of the SUV the teens were driving, which was found stashed in a wooded area with the plates removed.

Bremner had reportedly housed numerous minors in a trailer on her property, including some of the teens identified as suspects in the gas station incident, records show.

When contacted by police, Bremner reportedly said the Athol man had hit her friend.

She allegedly said she wanted the teens, who she described as “her kids,” to intimidate the man, so she provided them with the keys to her car.

Before police obtained a warrant for Bremner’s arrest, she allegedly fled the state.

She was later arrested in Shoshone County and posted $100,000 bond.

Police identified Heisler and three other teens as suspects in the case.

Heisler allegedly admitted to wielding the knife during the incident, as well as to stomping on and kicking the man.

He is charged with aggravated battery, battery with intent to commit robbery and criminal conspiracy, all felonies. Prosecutors also filed a deadly weapon enhancement.

Heisler remains in jail on $100,000 bond.

The other three teens, ages 16 or 17, originally faced the same charges.

In Idaho, juveniles between the ages of 14 and 18 charged with assault or battery with intent to commit robbery are automatically charged as adults.

Two of the charges against the teen girl were dismissed as a result of her preliminary hearing. She was bound over to district court on a felony charge of aggravated battery.

Heisler and the other defendants waived their right to a preliminary hearing and were bound over on the original charges.