Private security guards face charges for dragging Idaho woman out of town hall

This is not a negotiation. You've been asked to leave. I haven't been asked to leave. I'm telling you to leave

Prosecutors in Idaho have now filed misdemeanor charges against a half dozen private security officers

The men are accused of forcibly removing a woman who was in attendance at a town hall meeting in February

Five of the men work for the security firm Lear Asset Management

Teresa Borenpol, the woman seen on video getting dragged from the meeting

has notified Kootenai County that she intends to sue. The Coeur d'Alene City Prosecutor's Office says that Paul Truitt, Russell Dunn, Christopher Berg, and Jesse Jones

all face charges of battery, false imprisonment, as well as violations of security agent duties and uniform requirements

In addition, investigators charge Alex Truitt IV with security agent duties and uniform violations

A sixth man, Michael Keller, who does not work for the private security firm, is facing misdemeanor battery

The Associated Press reports about 450 people attended the meeting of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee

Video posted on YouTube shows the meeting getting loud and at one point a man with a hat that reads Kootenai County Sheriff trying to remove Borenpol by grabbing and pulling her arm She can be heard saying please don touch me please don touch me please don touch me Later at least two men in the video can be seen

pulling the woman to the ground while pinning and restraining her. People can be heard off camera

asking for badge numbers and identification and questioning who these people are

You refuse to identify yourselves. Who are you? You're that. Who are you

After the incident, Kootenai County Undersheriff Brett Nelson released a statement saying

the agency will have a complete and independent investigation of the incident

and will use an outside agency to conduct it. Borenpol, a Democratic state legislative candidate, told the AP, quote

Town halls are intended to foster conversation and discourse across the aisle

which is why I am deeply alarmed that private security dragged me out of the public meeting

for simply exercising my fundamental right to free speech. Dunn declined comment on the incident

Two others did not respond to voice or email messages, while the AP was unable to locate phone numbers for three others

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