Pair trespassed, arrested at BOCC meeting

▶️ Audio story available.

SANDPOINT — Two Bonner County residents were arrested Friday after refusing to leave the Bonner County Administration Building upon finding out they had been trespassed from the property.

During a Friday morning quarterly budget update meeting, Commissioner Luke Omodt announced toward the start of the meeting that two Bonner County residents in attendance, Dave Bowman and Rick Cramer, were officially being trespassed from the building for at least one year.

Omodt later said the reason both men were trespassed was due to their recent “disorderly and disruptive behavior” during the regular Board of County Commissioners’ Tuesday meetings. In an email sent Friday morning to Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall and Sheriff Daryl Wheeler, Omodt referred to prior meetings that had been disrupted by both men.

“Mr. [Cramer] has been removed twice from regular business meetings for his disruptive and disorderly conduct by law enforcement,” he said. “Mr. Bowman has also disrupted the last two regularly scheduled meetings of the Bonner County Board of County Commissioners.”

In addition to the disruptive behavior, Omodt also listed recent emails sent by Bowman to county officials as another reason for the trespass to be placed on the men. Bowman began voicing his concerns about the sergeant at arms via email following the attempted removal of his person at the Jan. 9 meeting.

In an email to Emergency Management director Bob Howard, he asked what de-escalation and weapons training Cameron La Combe, the sergeant at arms, had. While Bowman said he believes La Combe is a nice guy, he thinks he is being asked to carry out unlawful directions from commissioners and warned Howard that this will cause legal ramifications if it continues.

Bowman then made what some are considering loose threats, should he be asked to leave a meeting again.

“... [La Combe] has zero authority to remove me or anyone from a public meeting simply because a commissioner is displeased with what is being said,” he said. “I would have been well within my rights in that moment to take offensive action to defend myself. Instead, I retreated; if it happens again, I will not retreat.”

In addition to physical violence, Bowman also made claims that any harm that was caused would be the fault of county staff and said they would surely suffer legal ramifications for these actions.

“If I feel threatened and defend myself, and an altercation ensues, imagine the ramifications,” he continued. “Civil actions against the county, Omodt and Cameron, criminal charges against Cameron and Omodt, medical bills, potential injuries of bystanders, [et cetera]. It could get very ugly. No one needs or wants that; however, if it happens, it will be on the county and the individual actors, especially now that this has been brought to your attention on the record.”

Bowman again asked Howard to reconsider allowing La Combe to act as the sergeant at arms at the commissioners' meetings and again asked to know what  La Combe’s professional training was for the position.

However, Omodt advised Howard to refrain from responding to Bowman, as he interpreted the emails as a threat of a lawsuit against the county. This did not sit well with Bowman, who in turn responded that he had made no threats in his email.

“I have made no threat of civil action,” he responded. “Rest assured, if at some point I do, Omodt will not need to fabricate it as it will be blindingly obvious.”

This email exchange continued into the next week, following the Jan. 23 business meeting. Bowman acknowledged his disappointment at La Combe’s attempt to remove Cramer from the meeting. Additionally, Bowman mentioned that Cramer was openly carrying at the time — something he said everyone understands the dangers of.

“An armed person cannot risk being on the losing end of a fight and having his weapon taken from him, so the weapon itself may very well end up being used to prevent it being taken,” Bowman warned.

Bowman once again requested that La Combe end his position as the sergeant at arms, lest the county come under legal difficulties should weapons be drawn or fired.

“While Omodt will likely again falsely deem this as a threat, I assure you it is not,” he said. “Consider it an advisement.”

Because of these so-called “advisements” from Bowman insinuating violence at the Tuesday meetings, Omodt said action needed to be taken to protect both staff and residents from being put in harm’s way.

“The threats of violence and lawfare contained within Mr. Bowman's last email are unacceptable,” Omodt said. “I’m concerned for the safety of the general public, and for county officials…”

However, after being asked to leave the meeting, neither man appeared eager to get up.

“No, not gonna happen,” Cramer told Omodt.

The commissioner then recessed the meeting until Sandpoint Police arrived on the scene to deal with the situation. According to Omodt, he performed a citizen’s arrest on the men, and because they still refused to leave once police arrived, they were arrested.

Following complaints that SPD had done wrong by arresting the men, Sandpoint Mayor Jeremy Grimm issued a press release claiming the officers had neither broken any codes nor laws.

“The actions of the Sandpoint Police were in accordance with these provisions of Idaho Code,” Grimm said in the release. “The City of Sandpoint has the greatest respect for the Idaho Constitution, the Judicial process and the rights of our citizens and elected officials.”

As it is an ongoing investigation, Grimm said city officials and police would not be making further comments to protect the rights of the individuals involved.