Woman dragged from town hall hires attorney
Three employees of private security firm LEAR Asset Management dragged Post Falls resident Teresa Borrenpohl out of a town hall meeting Saturday for heckling legislators.
HAILEY HILL/Press
COEUR d’ALENE — A woman who was dragged from a legislative town hall at Coeur d’Alene High School by plainclothes security guards has hired legal representation.
Teresa Borrenpohl confirmed to The Press on Monday that she has hired Boise attorney Wendy Olson, though it’s not yet clear what type of legal action is planned.
Olson is a former U.S. Attorney for the District of Idaho and a partner with the firm Stoel Rives. She is the same attorney who represented Post Falls resident Eric Posey last year, when he successfully sued a local blogger for defamation. After a five-day trial in the defamation case, jurors awarded Posey $1.1 million in damages.
The Feb. 22 town hall, hosted by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, descended into chaos when Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris threatened to pepper spray Borrenpohl and attempted to physically remove her from the event after she spoke out of turn and declined to leave. A group of then-unidentified security guards then dragged Borrenpohl out of the auditorium at CHS.
Though Coeur d’Alene police who responded to the incident initially cited Borrenpohl with battery for biting one of the men who dragged her from the auditorium, city prosecutors soon dismissed the citation, noting that video recordings of the incident appeared to show that Borrenpohl acted in self-defense.
The city of Coeur d’Alene has also revoked the business license of the security company, LEAR Asset Management, for violating municipal codes that require security personnel to wear uniforms that clearly identify them as such.
Video recordings of the town hall incident circulated widely online and made national headlines.
A crowdfunding campaign for Borrenpohl’s legal bills has raised more than $330,000 as of Monday afternoon.