Details emerge in security company’s license revocation
Guards employed by LEAR Asset Management held Teresa Borrenpohl to the ground during a town hall.
HAILEY HILL/Press file
COEUR d’ALENE — Days after plainclothes security guards dragged a woman out of a legislative town hall, a letter from the city of Coeur d’Alene revoking the business license of LEAR Asset Management said the private security company posed “an immediate danger to the safety of the public.”
The letter, issued Feb. 24 by the city clerk’s office and addressed to security company owner Paul Trouette, outlined the ordinances that LEAR Asset Management violated during the town hall and ordered Trouette to immediately and indefinitely suspend all business operations within Coeur d’Alene.
The move came two days after the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee’s town hall in the Coeur d’Alene High School auditorium.
The event turned chaotic, and garnered international attention, after Post Falls resident Teresa Borrenpohl spoke out of turn and then declined to leave when ordered to do so by Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris.
Video recordings of the event showed Norris threatened to pepper spray Borrenpohl and made multiple attempts to pull her from her seat. After that, Norris gestured to plainclothes security personnel, later identified as employees of LEAR Asset Management, who pulled Borrenpohl to the ground and dragged her out of the auditorium.
Though several Coeur d’Alene police officers were in the CHS parking lot due to reported threats made against one of the legislators in attendance at the town hall, no one called for them until after the security guards had hauled Borrenpohl away.
Norris told The Press this was because the Coeur d’Alene Police Department lacked jurisdiction at CHS and would’ve refused to enter a political event, though Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White contended that his officers would’ve responded had they been called earlier.
City code requires “any security agent having knowledge of a crime committed within the corporate limits of the city” to “immediately notify the police department and stand by until regular police officers arrive.”
“At no time shall the security agent conduct an investigation before calling the police department,” the code said.
LEAR Asset Management failed to comply with that code, according to the city clerk’s office.
The security company also violated an ordinance requiring private security personnel to wear uniforms that clearly identify them as security and to identify themselves as security agents when requested, the clerk's office said.
Video recordings from the town hall showed that Borrenpohl repeatedly asked Norris and the security guards who they were and for whom they worked. She received no answer.
“Based on the circumstances of the incident, the chief of police has certified that there is an immediate danger to the safety of the public,” the letter said.
In light of that determination, there would be no stay of the license revocation. Additionally, if Trouette chose to appeal the revocation, it would remain in effect until a decision was reached.