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SHOCKING video has captured the moment three security officers appeared to wrestle a heckling protester to the ground before carrying her out of a council meeting
Chaotic scenes erupted inside a high school auditorium in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, on Saturday.
Those in attendance were showing their opposition to a law that has passed the state house, which would repeal Medicaid expansion.
One woman, later identified as Teresa Borrenpohl – who contested local elections for the Democratic Party – shouted to the lawmakers on the stage.
Bob Norris, The Kootenai County Sheriff, went up to the row where he was sitting and instructed her to leave, according to viral Facebook footage.
“Shut up or be arrested,” he said.
“This is not a negotiation.”
“Women deserve a voice,” Borrenpohl said in response.
Norris tried to pull Borrenpohl from her seat but she refused to budge.
He then instructed two security guards, who were wearing dark clothing, to remove her from the theater.
One security guard loomed over her before his colleague attempted to wrestle her from her seat.
She was flailing her hands and fidgeting as they tried to forcibly remove her.
One twisted her arm before she was dragged from her seat and hauled across the row.
Meanwhile, a commotion erupted as other attendees could be heard shouting out.
One of the guards could be seen holding onto Borrenpohl’s shoes.
She tried to clamber back to her row but the security guards stopped her.
They tried to stop her from clinging onto the seats.
The footage went viral, sparking outrage.
Borrenpohl told the Idaho Statesman she didn’t recognize Norris as he wasn’t wearing traditional police uniform.
She claimed the cop asked her if she wanted to be pepper sprayed.
Norris defended his actions and stated she was asked to leave the venue.
But, Lee White, the Coeur d’Alene police chief, blasted the heavy-handed nature of the response.
“I don’t care what your message is, especially in an open town hall like this,” he said.
“We have to respect everybody’s First Amendment rights.”
Shut up or be arrested
Bob Norris,
Borrenpohl has opened up on the horror that unfolded.
She told the Statesman she lost her shoe as she was being dragged.
“It was really violent and really traumatic,” she said.
“They had grabbed my wrists. They contorted my body. They were forcing me on the ground.
“I didn’t know if I was being arrested by the sheriff’s office or if I was being kidnapped.”
Borrenpohl revealed she bit one of the officers as she was being manhandled.
She was given a ticket for misdemeanour battery.
“I could have never imagined my right to free speech and my right to assemble could be stripped in such a violent way,” she posted on her Instagram account.
Borrenpohl has contested elections for the Idaho House of Representatives three times.
In November 2024, she was comprehensively defeated by the Republican candidate Tony Wisniewski.
She lost by a 79% to 21% margin.
Wisniewski also defeated Borrenpohl by sizable margins in 2020 and 2022.
