Opinion ID: 6929844
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Arresting Dawkins

Text: The government’s claim that war-rantless entry to arrest Dawkins was justified due to exigency rests either on “hot pursuit” grounds or on the totality of circumstances, a catch-all approach endorsed by the Supreme Court in Minnesota v. Olson, 495 U.S. 91, 100, 110 S.Ct. 1684, 1690, 109 L.Ed.2d 85 (1990). 9 Because we doubt seriously that the police could reasonably have believed that Dawkins was in Apartment 104, particularly at the point at which the key taken from “Boyd,” a man whose description matched Dawkins’ in virtually every respect, fit the lock, we find the requisite exigency lacking. Moreover, we note that even in the extremely unlikely event that Dawkins had been within Apartment 104, he would have posed no threat to McEachin from within the apartment. At all times relevant to the war-rantless entry, of one thing the police were certain: McEachin herself was not in Apartment 104. The “hot pursuit” exception, recognized by the Supreme Court in Warden v. Hayden, 387 U.S. 294, 87 S.Ct. 1642, 18 L.Ed.2d 782 (1967), and United States v. Santana, 427 U.S. 38, 96 S.Ct. 2406, 49 L.Ed.2d 300 (1976), allows police officers to enter premises without a warrant when they are engaged in “some sort of a chase” and have concrete information, either by themselves observing or by hearing from contemporaneous witnesses, that the defendant has entered the building. Id. at 43, 96 S.Ct. at 2410. In United States v. Lindsay, 506 F.2d 166 (D.C.Cir.1974), this court held that “[s]peed and a continuous knowledge of the alleged perpetrator’s whereabouts are the elements which underpin this exception to the warrant requirement.” Id. at 173. 10 Because the police officers in this case were not chasing Dawkins in a literal sense and had no knowledge that he had entered Apartment 104—in fact, all of the evidence before them pointed to the contrary—this is clearly not a “hot pursuit” case. . Nor is the government’s conduct justifiable on any broader theory of exigency. In terms of the criteria set forth in Dorman v. United States, 435 F.2d 385 (D.C.Cir.1970), which the Supreme Court recognized in Welsh v. Wisconsin, 466 U.S. 740, 751, 104 S.Ct. 2091, 2098, 80 L.Ed.2d 732 (1984), as “a leading federal case defining exigent circumstances,” there was probable cause, based on reasonably trustworthy information, to believe that Dawkins had threatened to commit a grave offense against McEachin. There was also a significant likelihood, given his fugitive status, that he would escape if not swiftly apprehended. A credible case can further be made that it was reasonably likely Dawkins would be armed. However, we find it ultimately dispositive that there was absolutely no evidence, much less “strong reason,” as required in Dorman, to believe that Dawkins would be at home. The Fourth Amendment admits of no exception for “conceivable” places to which dangerous suspects might flee. On a record bereft of indication that Dawkins would be in Apartment 104, we cannot sanction the officers’ warrantless entry and sweep in this particular case. 11