A debrief: Why a protester was dragged out of Idaho GOP town hall

A local extremism reporter’s guide to what happened in the viral video of a woman being dragged out of an Idaho town hall by a group of men with no official uniforms.

Megan Kunz walked into the Republican town hall at Coeur d’Alene High School on Saturday wearing a sweater that said, “Destroy American Fascism.” It was a bold thing to wear to a conservative event, and the tension was immediately apparent. A large man she’d seen at other political events “eyed me up and down and said, ‘You’re the fascist,’” Kunz told RANGE. But she wasn’t expecting to see a friend dragged out of the event.

The combative atmosphere intensified, as the crowd grew increasingly riled over a series of policies Republican lawmakers had been summoned by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee to promote onstage. Attendees from both ends of the political spectrum spoke up from the audience about the laws, a slate of controversial conservative state policies like paying for private school with public money and slashing Idaho’s Medicare program.

According to multiple news reports and three people RANGE spoke with who attended the town hall, some people cheered raucously for these policies and were tolerated.

Dissenters were not.

One heckler, Teresa Borrenpohl, a Post Falls woman who ran unsuccessfully for the Idaho House of Representatives seat representing District 5B, was treated very differently. After she had loudly protested some of the policies and lawmakers from her seat, the event took an unexpected turn.

In footage posted to YouTube by Laura Tenneson, Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris approached Borrenpohl. He wasn’t in uniform, but he was wearing a cap that read, “Kootenai County Sheriff.”

He ordered Borrenpohl to leave. She ignored him. Norris then grabbed Borrenpohl’s arm as she said, “Please don’t touch me.”

Norris looked at Tenneson, who was recording, and said, “You’re about to be removed, too.”

He threatened to pepper spray Borrenpohl and as he began to tug on her arm, Borrehnpohl said, “You know this is a very bad idea.” Norris immediately retreated to the aisle, where several men in plain black jackets with no visible logos were standing.

Norris beckoned to the men, pointing out Borrenpohl and began recording the scene with his own smartphone. One of the men approached Borrenpohl, and as he grabbed her hand, she protested, “Who the fuck are you?”

She asked for a badge. He refused to identify himself. Another man began to help the first, trying to drag Borrenpohl from her seat. She yelled at Norris: “This man is assaulting me!” He screamed back, “You, out, now!”

The scuffle lasted several minutes as the men eventually dragged Borrenpohl into the aisle, zip tied her hands and muscled her out of the auditorium.

Kunz, who was sitting about five seats to Borrenpohl’s left, told RANGE she wondered whether she should call the police — but the sheriff was already there.

The incident spread across the internet like wildfire. Within days, NBC, Newsweek, the New York Times and the Australian had covered it.

RANGE reached out to the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee (KCRCC) officials who organized the event, Norris and the private security firm that dragged Borrenpohl from the stands, but none responded. So we put together a guide on what you need to know about the players and the men who dragged Borrenpohl and the timeline of events, with a bit of extra local reporting.

Security firm’s license revoked

The men who dragged Borrenpohl from the auditorium were employees of Lear Asset Management (LAM), a private security firm that occasionally surfaces in the news for cracking down on environmental activists and pot growers.

The firm advertises its security work across the West and markets itself as having worked for police departments, county sheriff’s offices, the California Department of Justice, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

After its agents pulled Borrenpohl from her seat at the town hall, the city of Coeur d’Alene revoked security licenses for employees of the company, accusing it of violating City Code 5.32.050, which mandates that security contractors must wear clothing with the word “Security” printed visibly “no less than one inch tall on the front of the uniform, and no less than four inches tall on the back of the uniform.” The men who dragged Borrenpohl wore clothing with no markers.

One of the men who dragged Borrenpohl from her seat was Paul Trouette, the CEO of LAM. He lives in Hayden and did not return a call for comment. Trouette was issued a security license, which professional security providers can apply for to work in the city, by Coeur d’Alene on February 20, according to City of Coeur d’Alene documents obtained by RANGE.

This isn’t Trouette’s first time in CDA news. He showed up to a Coeur d’Alene City Council meeting on June 18, 2024, to protest new restrictions for security operators in the city — the very same restrictions his men violated on Saturday. In part, the rules mandated clearer markers on vehicles and uniforms to better differentiate between private security and public police officers and sheriffs deputies. During his testimony, Trouette said his men already wear uniforms with clear markings.

“Typically, law enforcement wants to know that we’re distinguishable, so on our uniforms we have giant patches on the back ‘Security Contractor,’” he said. “We have ‘Security’ all over the front and so you know that’s very visible, it’s very large, very bold.”

Public or private event?

The event was billed as a “town hall” by the KCRCC.

“When I hear town hall, I think of dialogue,” said Beth Miller, a North Idaho resident who attended the event. “That was not apparently what the organizers had in mind.”

Indeed, KCRCC chair Brent Regan, in comments given during a Tuesday meeting reported by The Spokesman-Review, said the event was a private one. He told the paper that he hired Lear Asset Management to provide security at the event. At the beginning of the event, Regan said, “if you misbehave we’re going to sic these security people on you,” Miller told RANGE.

This seems to have put the KCRCC at odds with Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White.

“If this is a regular business meeting, there’s an agenda,” White told The Spokesman. “And if there is a posted agenda, then generally the public cannot disrupt the operation of the government body. But in an open forum, where people can cheer and jeer – there is an expectation that someone’s right to free speech will not be infringed upon.”

The event was held in a public high school, and all members of the community were invited.

According to KXLY, the Coeur d’Alene School District issued a statement Feb. 25 saying, “The district granted the KCRCC’s request to hold the town hall event at CHS based on the facility use agreement application that stated the event was open to the public and that the public venue would provide a neutral location where local residents and their elected officials could engage openly with one another.”

It went on to say that KCRCC never told the district it would be a private event.

Law enforcement layout

Both Norris and the CDA police were on the scene, so it may be confusing to know which agency — the police and the sheriff’s office — did what.

Though Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office issued a press release stating “no deputy sheriffs or other personnel” were present or involved in the incident, the head honcho himself Norris was involved. It’s unclear if he was there in any kind of official capacity; he did not wear a uniform, but did wear a hat identifying himself as sheriff and directed the private security officers with authority.

The CDA police on the scene responded to the incident and originally cited Borrenpohl for battery. (As she was being dragged from the auditorium, Borrenpohl bit one of the men.)

The city prosecutor quickly dismissed the charge.

Now, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office is commissioning an independent investigation into the incident, and the Coeur d’Alene Police Department, who conducted an initial investigation into the matter, is continuing to investigate.

And Borrenpohl appears to be lawyering up. Alicia Abbott, a North Idaho activist, started a GoFundMe campaign to fund legal costs, as Borrenpohl has stopped talking to the press about the incident.

“Please consider donating to help Dr. Borrenpohl retain legal counsel and ensure that this injustice is properly addressed,” text on the campaign reads. “Your support is crucial in defending our rights and ensuring that justice prevails.”

Shaken up

As Borrenpohl wrestled with her captors, the event’s emcee, Ed Bejerana, addressed the room: “Look at this little girl over here, everyone. Look at her,” Bejarana said, according to the Coeur d’Alene/Post Falls Press. “We’ve got to be a little aggressive with some of these folks here. Your voice is meaningless right now. … I can talk over all of you.”

Bejerana, a local voice actor, did not respond to an emailed request for comment, and his business line carried the message: “Due to an unusually high volume of spam phone calls, we have turned off the voicemail receipt.”

After Borrenpohl was dragged from the auditorium, Kunz had grabbed Borrenpohl’s shoe, which had come off in the melee, and tried to bring it to her. Two “large men” blocked her from entering the hallway. She had to use a separate exit to get to her friend.

“Teresa’s interesting because I had a very emotional reaction,” Kunz said. “She says, ‘I need you to be okay because I’m okay.’”

But as Borrenpohl was escorted away from the scene by a Coeur d’Alene Police officer, Kunz said she said something that showed she was not unshaken.

“She turns to the officer and says, ‘Am I safe with you?’” Kunz said. “To me that’s very, very telling that she was afraid.”