Opinion ID: 349540
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Urgent Need.

Text: 50 The third element of the hot pursuit doctrine, urgent need for warrantless action by the police, requires the government to show that the delay necessary to obtain a warrant is not acceptable because the risks of physical harm to police and others or the risk of escape will increase as a result of such delay. Factual issues relevant to the analysis of these risks are: (1) whether there was a grave crime involved; (2) whether the suspect was armed; (3) whether the suspect knew or might have known that the police were pursuing him; and (4) whether the premises could have been cordoned off while a warrant was obtained. 51 In this case, the trial court failed to consider: (1) the amount of delay that would have resulted if a policeman at the scene had attempted to obtain a search warrant; and (2) whether there were increased risks of escape or physical harm to police and others as a result of this delay. The facts in this case do not demonstrate a situation where these risks instantaneously arose or where the circumstances were dramatically changing with each moment so that any delay in the search was intolerable. Some delay could have been accepted and therefore the extent of the delay necessary to obtain a warrant is important. 52 The police made no effort to obtain a warrant. 5 The government also failed to present any evidence to show that a magistrate was not available at the time of the search. Since the government has the burden to justify a warrantless entrance, upon this record, there is no possible basis for an assumption that there would have been a significant delay incident to obtaining a warrant. 53 Given this conclusion, I also find that the record fails to demonstrate that there would have been an increased risk of escape due to a delay in the search. The house was surrounded by the police and the alleged getaway car was under the control of the police. The shades in the front were drawn and there is no evidence to suggest that the occupants knew that the police had stopped defendant Jones. Whatever possibility of escape there might have been was already in esse. I fail to see how it could increase if the police had delayed their search to send one of their number to obtain a warrant. 54 The trial court noted that the area could have been cordoned off but concluded that (t)he benefits to be derived from obtaining a warrant simply would not have justified (the) additional risk. Slip op. at 15, quoting from United States v. Bustamante-Gamez, 488 F.2d 4, 9 (9th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 416 U.S. 970, 94 S.Ct. 1993, 40 L.Ed.2d 559 (1974). However, in Bustamante-Gamez the critical risk was the danger of injury because the police action had attracted a crowd of neighbors who might have been injured if violence were to erupt. This danger was not present here. In addition, Bustamante-Gamez involved the search for contraband which could easily be destroyed. There is no evidence in this case that the police were concerned about the destruction of evidence. In conclusion, I find that there is nothing in the record to prove that a time delay in the entrance of Brightwell's residence would have resulted in a greater risk of escape. 55 Concerning the risk of physical harm, the record is similarly inadequate to demonstrate that additional risk would result from any delay. A possibility of violence did exist, but this is inherent in apprehending suspects who are believed to be armed. If the suspects were going to resist arrest, the time factor would appear to be irrelevant and the conditions surrounding an approach of the home appeared to be static. The government failed to show that delay would increase the risk of physical harm. 56 The government's equivocal evidence of urgent need is clearly rebutted by the statement of Captain Steppke at the suppression hearing. It was his opinion that even after announcing their presence to the house occupants, the police would have gone for a warrant if refused admittance. This opinion is consistent with other actions of the police and is not unreasonable in light of the facts known to the police at the time of the entrance. 57 A court's analysis of the hot pursuit exception must focus upon the reasonableness of an officer's actions in light of the facts known to that officer. It seems incongruous for the government to ignore or contradict the officers' perceptions of urgent need while, at the same time, the government attempts to prove that the actions of those same officers were reasonable. I believe that a court should be extremely skeptical of the assertion that there were substantial risks of violence or escape when the persons who are most apt to suffer from these risks do not perceive them. In United States v. Wilcox, 357 F.Supp. 514 (E.D.Pa.1973), the court suppressed evidence seized during a warrantless search. In rejecting the government's argument that exigent circumstances existed, the court noted: 58 Perhaps the most graphic exhibition of the lack of exigent circumstances, and of the agents' belief that none existed, is Agent Kelly's statement to Mrs. Wilcox that if she did not consent to the search he would get a warrant. . . . If Agent Kelly's statement was honest, it manifested a belief that there was opportunity to seek a warrant. Id. at 519. 59 The evidence presented at the suppression hearing failed to demonstrate the urgency and strong evidence of criminal involvement existing in those cases in which the hot pursuit exception has been applied. Instead, the police consistently appear to have operated under the notion that they were given consent to enter the dwelling. I concur with the trial court that the inconsistencies in the government's testimony as to consent are troublesome, but I conclude that the legality of the action taken by the police must rise or fall based upon a consent theory. Since the trial court has not ruled upon this question, I would remand the case for a determination whether the police were given valid consent to enter Brightwell's home.