A legislative town hall in Coeur d’Alene descended into chaos when Teresa Borrenpohl found herself dragged across the floor by plainclothes security after shouting about a legislator’s use of public lands. The incident, which left her with a misdemeanor battery citation, began when Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris - dressed in jeans and a baseball cap - approached her in the darkened auditorium.

… The security firm LEAR Asset Management, licensed as a private patrol operator in California but whose plainclothes presence violated Coeur d’Alene city code requiring clearly marked uniforms, has declined to comment. While Norris claims no knowledge of security arrangements, KCRCC chair Brent Regan stated, “Nothing was done without him being aware.”

Before becoming sheriff, Norris served as a Lieutenant with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, where he led counter-terrorism efforts at the Joint Regional Intelligence Center after 9/11. Working under then-Sheriff Lee Baca, he held top security clearance while managing personnel from the FBI and CIA.

Now, records from Transparent California reveal Norris collects $186,675 annually from the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association - including $150,282 in disability payments and $36,393 in benefits. While claiming in 2020 he received only pension payments, he recently disclosed having partial disability ratings - 12% for his right shoulder and 13% for his left. However, after video surfaced of Norris physically grabbing and attempting to remove Borrenpohl from the town hall, users online have begun questioning whether he should still be receiving disability payments based on alleged physical impairments.

[Italics in original]

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250226123917/https://lamag.com/news/educator-dragged-from-idaho-town-hall-on-orders-of-ex-la-sheriffs-deputy-collecting-150k-in-disability

  • atzanteol@sh.itjust.works
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    18 hours ago

    The point of disability is that you are unable to do a job and need assistance to continue living.

    Nope.

    This person is a sheriff NOW. His disability was from when he was a lieutenant

    Disability is not tied to a job.

    So he is being paid because he can’t be a lieutenant but is perfectly fine being a sheriff?

    If he’s unable to work full-time at his position or has other limitations on his work performance then he his eligible for benefits regardless of what position he held when he started them.

    It may be that he hasn’t disclosed to SSA what he’s making and is in fact committing fraud. But your understanding of SSA is very incorrect.

    • dogslayeggs@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      So you think it’s totally cool to have a person collect disability payments for years and years while working a full time job that pays even more than the job they are collecting disability from?

      I get workman’s comp and suing for injuries incurred from a job, but at some point it is ridiculous to pay someone a full salary to not do anything when they are CLEARLY capable of performing the same job they are being paid to not do.

      • atzanteol@sh.itjust.works
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        14 hours ago

        So you think it’s totally cool to have a person collect disability payments for years and years while working a full time job that pays even more than the job they are collecting disability from?

        Ahh, we’re at the point where people just start ascribing straw-man arguments to me. Bye bye.

        • dogslayeggs@lemmy.world
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          14 hours ago

          You are the one who is arguing that this sheriff, who has a full time job with a higher rank in the same office as before, should still be receiving disability.

          I was on disability for a time and was not allowed to work at all while on it. Once I was able to work again, I was taken off disability.

          • atzanteol@sh.itjust.works
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            13 hours ago

            You are the one who is arguing that this sheriff, who has a full time job with a higher rank in the same office as before, should still be receiving disability.

            I am not.