Quote:
Court OKs police home entry in emergencies
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Your home is your castle, unless the police want to come in.
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 entering a home 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 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.
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So, let me get this right. Some cop looks into a window of a house and sees a fight going on. He enters the house to break up the fight. Then he (presumably) arrests someone for (presumably) domestic violence or assault. The accused challenges the charge on the grounds that the officer entered illegally? The supreme court throws that out.
And this is a violation of someone's rights how?
Let's take this to a greater absurdity. Capt Charlie used a nice example of reality, so I'll go a bit more extreme. A cop sees into a house and/or hears angry shouting. He then hears a gunshot, followed by more shouting and crying. So this cop should leave the scene and get a search warrant to enter a private residence? If you can't see the problems with this scenario or take issue with a cop trying to prevent a crime or save a life, arguments will make no difference anyway. Keep on hating.