6 Men Charged After Woman Dragged From Idaho Town Hall

Six men face criminal charges including battery and false imprisonment over a February incident in which a woman was dragged out of an Idaho town hall. Teresa Borrenpohl, a former Democratic state legislative candidate, was heckling speakers at the event hosted by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee when the sheriff told her to leave, threatening to arrest and pepper-spray her if she did not, the New York Times reports. He ultimately gestured to men wearing tactical outfits who pulled her to the floor and then out of the auditorium. They were later identified as private security officers for Lear Asset Management Inc., the Spokesman-Review reports.

Paul Trouette, Christofer Berg, and Jesse Jones have been identified as the men who allegedly dragged Borrenpohl out of the room; they, along with Russell Dunne, face charges of battery and false imprisonment. They were also cited for security agent uniform and agent duty violations, as was Alexander Trouette IV. The sixth man, Michael Keller, was charged with battery. Borrenpohl has also filed a complaint against the security team as well as the county sheriff and the chairman of KCRCC. "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 of free speech," she says in a statement. (More Idaho stories.)