Posted on 05/22/2006 7:58:10 AM PDT by NinoFan
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court reaffirmed Monday that police can enter homes in emergencies without knocking or announcing their presence.
Justices said four Brigham City, Utah, police officers were justified in going inside a home in 2000 after peeking through a window and seeing a fight between a teenager and adults.
Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the unanimous court, said that officers had a reasonable basis for going inside to stop violence.
"The role of a peace officer includes preventing violence and restoring order, not simply rendering first aid to casualties; an officer is not like a boxing (or hockey) referee, poised to stop a bout only if it becomes too one-sided," Roberts wrote.
The decision overturned a ruling by Utah's Supreme Court that said a trial judge was correct to throw out charges stemming from the police search. The trial judge had ruled that police had violated the Fourth Amendment's prohibition against unreasonable searches by failing to knock before entering the house.
When the adults realized the officers were inside the house, they allegedly became abusive and were charged with disorderly conduct, intoxication and contributing to the delinquency of a minor — all misdemeanors.
In a separate opinion, Justice John Paul Stevens said that Utah courts could still find that the police entry was unreasonable under Utah's Constitution. He called it "an odd flyspeck of a case," and said he was unsure why courts had spent so much time on a matter involving minor offenses.
BULL$H!T! They come into my home unannounced and will be promptly greeted with a .308 warning shot. Any further attempts will be met with extreme resistance. You don't knock down the door of my home and expect me to be placid!
So, why were you beating the kid up in the first place...la
Um, do you normally have fights inside your home that are visible from the outside?
Even if they see you battering someone from the street?
Good luck with your attempted capital murder trial.
More like - "Good luck with your untimely funeral..."
You are headed for trouble with that kind of attitude, friend.
The police will shoot you down and you will be portrayed on the evening news as some nut who fired at officers while they were lawfully attempting to arrest you.
Good luck with your attempted capital murder trial.I doubt he would make it to trial.
Good luck with that./s
So if they look in the window and see the back door broken in and a guy in a mask raping your wife, would you like them to go away and obtain a search warrant before detaining him?
Fixin to die in a pointless unwinable fight? Sell your .308 and take a vacation. Better yet, save it for a real enemy.
The guy is in Florida. I was assuming they would try to taser him before throwing lead.
Wouldn't this same reasoning justify cops walking in and cofiscating firearms, like occured in the immediate aftermath of Katrina in NO?
"save it for a real enemy"
Unions and Government?
I would be inclined to encourage people to feel free to shoot someone bearing a gun bashing through someone's front door unannounced.
Shoot at a cop at your own peril...your's will be a warning shot, there's will be your death blow.
Parents were drunk.
I thought this was already covered under proable cause. At the same time, do a home invasion on my house and Mr 454 is going go through you, your body armor, the front wall and probably the car you drove up in.
Exactly! How is the homeowner supposed to know that the person who just crashed down their door is a good guy? And how often do good guys double as peeping toms? I respect the courts unanimous decision, but the same understanding should be shown when a homeowner kills a cop because he/she invaded their home over a visual misunderstanding.
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