Opinion ID: 2632419
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Safety of Officers and Other Occupants

Text: The People argue that the officers' warrantless entry into the apartment was justified to protect the safety of the officers and other occupants present at the time of Aarness's arrest. We agree. The police had information that Aarness was armed and observed him reach into the seat of his reclinerpossibly for a weaponand Aarness refused to show his hands when ordered to do so. Therefore, we hold that the police were justified in making a warrantless entry to arrest Aarness. This type of exigency does not fit neatly within the three categories we have recognized in the past. Although it is related to the colorable claim of emergency category, the facts of this case do not present a colorable claim of emergency as we have defined it. To establish that there was a colorable claim of emergency threatening the life or safety of another, also known as the emergency aid exception, there must be a showing of immediate crisis inside the home and the probability that police assistance will be helpful in alleviating that crisis. People v. Winpigler, 8 P.3d 439, 446 (Colo.1999). The typical case is one in which the police are responding to an ongoing emergency inside a residence. E.g., Kluhsman, 980 P.2d at 532-33 (finding a colorable claim of emergency where the defendant, covered in blood, told police that people had been chasing him all night and that he had killed a couple of his pursuers, such that a warrantless search of the defendant's home for injured persons was justified). Thus, there was no colorable claim of emergency here. We have not decided a case with facts substantially similar to those in the case at hand. The United States Supreme Court, however, has held that officers may make a warrantless arrest or conduct a warrantless search if they believe that their own lives or the lives of others are at risk. See Warden v. Hayden, 387 U.S. 294, 298-99, 87 S.Ct. 1642, 18 L.Ed.2d 782 (1967) (holding the warrantless entry and search of a residence lawful where police had information that an armed robbery suspect was inside). We find this overarching principle helpful in guiding our analysis of whether the facts here present exigent circumstances. In addition to the three specific categories of exigent circumstances we have recognized, we have developed a set of factors to be considered when determining whether exigent circumstances are present. People v. Miller, 773 P.2d 1053, 1057 (Colo.1989) (citing Dorman v. United States, 435 F.2d 385, 392-93 (D.C.Cir.1970)). In Miller, we followed the Dorman factors for determining whether exigent circumstances exist: (1) whether a grave offense is involved, particularly a crime of violence; (2) whether the suspect is reasonably believed to be armed; (3) whether there exists a clear showing of probable cause to believe that the suspect committed the crime; (4) whether there is a strong reason to believe the suspect is in the premises being entered; (5) the likelihood that the suspect will escape if not swiftly apprehended; and (6) whether the entry is made peaceably. Id. Whether the entry is made at night is an additional consideration. Id. Applying the Dorman factors, other jurisdictions have found exigent circumstances in situations substantially similar to this one. See generally 3 LaFave, supra, § 6.1(f) nn. 198-206 (listing cases finding exigent circumstances under the Dorman factors). [5] For example, the First Circuit held that exigent circumstances justified entry into a third party's residence to execute an arrest warrant where the arrestee had outstanding arrest warrants, had been seen by an informant earlier that day carrying a firearm, and tried to escape through the attic when he saw police outside the residence where he was staying. United States v. Weems, 322 F.3d 18, 20-21, 23 (1st Cir.2003). The court reasoned that the police needed to act quickly in that situation, and that the arrestee had been given ample time to surrender before the police entered the residence to arrest him. Id. at 23. Considering the Dorman factors as approved of by this Court in Miller, the particular circumstances present here were sufficient to conclude that there existed a substantial safety risk to both police and the occupants of the apartment that justified police entry to arrest Aarness. Aarness argues that exigent circumstances do not excuse a warrantless entry when they arise as a result of a planned confrontation initiated by the police. Essentially, Aarness asserts that the police created the exigency that they used to justify their warrantless entry. See, e.g., United States v. Anderson, 154 F.3d 1225, 1234 (10th Cir. 1998) (holding that exigent circumstances that the police knowingly created cannot justify their warrantless entry). Here, the police had just learned from an anonymous tip that an armed parole violator with two outstanding warrants, one from Mesa County and the other for violating parole in California, was located in the apartment. When the police knocked on the door with their weapons drawn and saw Aarness through the open doorway, they created the encounter with Aarness. But it was Aarness's action and failure to respond to police commands to show his hands that created the circumstances that justified police entry, when combined with the police's knowledge that he was an armed felon with outstanding arrest warrants. When Aarness disobeyed multiple police demands to show his hands and reached his right hand into the seat of the recliner, the need for police action arose to protect themselves and the other occupants of the apartment. It was reasonable for police to believe that he was reaching for a weapon. Aarness's conduct, and not that of the police, created the exigent circumstances that justified the warrantless entry. Hence, we conclude that in this case police neither created nor manufactured the circumstances that justified their warrantless entry.
Because the initial police entry into the apartment was lawful, the gun, drugs, and drug paraphernalia seen by police once inside were properly seized pursuant to the plain view doctrine. Kluhsman, 980 P.2d at 534-35. Alternatively, police were justified in conducting a protective sweep of the residence incident to Aarness's lawful arrest. Maryland v. Buie, 494 U.S. 325, 334, 110 S.Ct. 1093, 108 L.Ed.2d 276 (1990). Under this doctrine, police may conduct a protective sweep if they have an articulable suspicion that the area to be swept harbors a person posing a danger to those present at the arrest scene. Id. In this case, the police had an articulable suspicion that another occupant remained inside the house because they were told someone was upstairs. Police also had reason to believe that there may have been weapons in the apartment because they had found a loaded handgun clip on Aarness's person. The gun, drugs, and drug paraphernalia the police encountered during their protective sweep for the person upstairs were therefore properly seized.