Teens plead guilty in attack
KAYE THORNBRUGH | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 years, 11 months AGO
Kaye Thornbrugh is a second-generation Kootenai County resident who has been with the Coeur d’Alene Press for six years. She primarily covers Kootenai County’s government, as well as law enforcement, the legal system and North Idaho College. | February 1, 2022 1:07 AM
COEUR d’ALENE — Three teens have pleaded guilty for their roles in an attack at a gas station, while the woman who allegedly enlisted them to beat someone with a baseball bat is expected to stand trial in April.
Dax M. Heisler, 18, of Hayden, pleaded guilty to aggravated battery, a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Two other teens, whose names have not been released because they are minors, pleaded guilty to the same charge.
Tracy L. Bremner, 43, of Athol, is charged with aggravated assault, a felony, for allegedly threatening a man at knifepoint.
The charges stem from last October, when an Athol man said he was jumped by a group of teens at a gas station.
Security footage showed the man parked at a gas pump around 9 p.m., when an SUV pulled up and boxed him in.
Four teens — three boys and a girl — jumped out of the SUV, according to court documents, and swarmed the man’s truck.
The teen girl reportedly hit the man in the head with a baseball bat, causing him to fall to the ground, then continued to beat him. The group kicked him and stomped him, police said.
When the girl threw the bat at the man, he said he grabbed the weapon and “fought his way back to his feet.”
One of the teens, later identified as Heisler, allegedly attempted to stab the man.
The man reportedly hit one of the teens with the bat before he reached his truck and drove off.
A gas station employee told police he witnessed the event but didn’t contact law enforcement “because he didn’t think he had to.”
The victim said Bremner came to his residence the night of the attack and threatened him with a knife.
He said the teens also came to his residence, where they smashed the windows of his truck and slashed his tires.
Police determined that Bremner was the registered owner of the SUV the teens were driving, which was found stashed in a wooded area with the plates removed.
Bremner had housed numerous minors in a trailer on her property, including some of the teens identified as suspects in the gas staton incident, records show.
When contacted by police, Bremner said the Athol man had hit her friend.
She allegedly said she wanted the teens, who she described as “her kids,” to intimidate the man, so she provided them with the keys to her car.
Before police obtained a warrant for Bremner’s arrest, she allegedly fled the state.
She was later arrested in Shoshone County and posted $100,000 bond.
Prosecutors originally charged Bremner with criminal conspiracy and injury to a child, both felonies, but dropped the charges after a judge ruled they failed to meet the burden of proof needed to bind Bremner over to district court.
She is expected to stand trial for aggravated assault in April. She has pleaded not guilty.
Police identified Heisler and three other teens as suspects in the case.
Heisler allegedly admitted wielding a knife during the incident, as well as to stomping on and kicking the man.
He was originally charged with aggravated battery, battery with intent to commit robbery and criminal conspiracy, all felonies. Prosecutors also filed a deadly weapon enhancement.
As part of a pretrial settlement offer, the state dropped two of the three charges, as well as the enhancement.
Heisler remains in jail on $100,000 bond. He is scheduled to be sentenced in March.
The other three teens, ages 16 or 17, originally faced the same charges.
In Idaho, juveniles between the ages of 14 and 18 charged with assault or battery with intent to commit robbery are automatically charged as adults.
The teen boys both pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of aggravated battery. They are scheduled to be sentenced in April.
Two of the charges against the teen girl were dismissed as a result of her preliminary hearing.
She is now charged with battery with intent to commit a serious felony and with criminal conspiracy, both felonies.
She is expected to enter a plea this week.
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