No charges for false alarm at NIC
KAYE THORNBRUGH | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 3 years, 8 months AGO
After an unidentified person intentionally pulled a fire alarm Dec. 10 at North Idaho College, Coeur d’Alene Fire responded and gave an all-clear. KAYE THORNBRUGH/Press file
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 13, 2023 5:14 PM
COEUR d’ALENE — City prosecutors have declined to file charges against a local woman for a false fire alarm pulled at North Idaho College in December, citing a lack of evidence that she committed any crime.
“A prosecutor can only file charges based on facts that can be proved in court,” the Coeur d’Alene City Attorney’s Office said Monday in a news release. “Further, it is the duty of a prosecutor not to file charges that cannot be supported by provable facts.”
NIC security staff and Coeur d’Alene police investigated the false fire alarm that occurred during a raucous Dec. 10 meeting of the college board of trustees.
In Idaho, making a false alarm that could or does result in the response of emergency services is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. The act also qualifies as disturbing the peace in Coeur d’Alene.
Prosecutors said Monday that Teresa Borrenpohl was the subject of a complaint review request in connection with the Dec. 10 incident.
In order to decide whether to file charges, prosecutors reviewed all videos obtained by Coeur d’Alene police, as well as all reports from police and NIC security.
The videos did not show anyone, including Borrenpohl, enter the hallway where the fire alarm station is located, prosecutors said. No witnesses saw Borrenpohl pull the alarm.
Footage also shows people exiting the meeting room after the alarm went off, but prosecutors could not definitively determine that Borrenpohl was not among them.
“Without evidence that can tie Ms. Borrenpol to the alarm, there is insufficient evidence to support probable cause in order to justify filing charges,” the news release said.
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