Opinion ID: 1473997
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: carefully tailored entry

Text: Next, we examine whether the entry was tailored carefully to provide assistance in the emergency. An officer can do no more than is reasonably necessary to ascertain whether someone inside the premises is in need of assistance, and then to provide that assistance. Id. at 1356. The fact that the victim is an infant affects the equation. If the victim were a person of more than tender years, that person could not only have called for help when the police entered, but also could have identified him or herself and testified to what happened. Normally, the officer could determine whether a person is the victim of a kidnapping by simply speaking with the person. See Burks, supra, 624 A.2d at 1270 (adult kidnapping victim identified appellant as the one who kidnapped us when police officer entered motel room); Collins, supra, 543 A.2d at 645 (13 year-old boy identified himself to police upon his rescue); cf. Benefiel, supra, 578 N.E.2d at 343 (17 year-old kidnapping and rape victim identified herself at hospital following her separation from appellant). However, where a very young infant is concerned, the only way to ascertain whether the baby is in need of assistance and to provide assistance is to identify the child and, if it has been kidnapped, to return it to its parent or guardian, in this case, the hospital. Because here the victim was a baby, the police could not rely on such information to determine whether the child was in need of rescue. Therefore, the police needed to identify the baby by other means. Entering the home and taking the baby to the hospital was narrowly tailored to achieve identification and rescue. The police did not search for any evidence of the crime such as the clothes she may have worn to the hospital. Rather, they merely asked Ms. Oliver some follow-up questions and took the baby for identification. The entire encounter was conducted in a peaceful manner. Here, essentially the same factors which established probable cause to believe the baby was in danger prevented the officers from simply being able to knock on the door and request that the baby be brought to them for identification. The appellant had already told the officers a plain lie about the baby. She knew that with investigation they might discover the falsity of her story. At that point in time, if appellant had not already fled with or harmed the baby, she would have had additional reason and opportunity to do so if the police appeared on her doorstep again. Once the officers entered the home and discovered that appellant was downstairs, presumably with the baby who was not otherwise in sight, they had a duty to enter the basement to ascertain that the baby was unharmed and prevent its abscondence. They did so simply by following appellant's brother, who did not object, down the stairs. Cf. United States v. Mejia, 953 F.2d 461 (9th Cir.1991) (officers followed wife into husband's bedroom without express permission; permissible since reasonable person would have otherwise voiced objection), cert. denied, 504 U.S. 926, 112 S.Ct. 1983, 118 L.Ed.2d 581 (1992). The scope of their entry was thus `strictly tied to and justified' by the circumstances. Booth, supra, 455 A.2d at 1356 (quoting Warden, supra, 387 U.S. at 310, 87 S.Ct. at 1651 (Fortas, J. concurring)). See Earle, supra, 612 A.2d at 1264 (finding an emergency exception for warrantless entry). The police questioned appellant in a final attempt to satisfy themselves regarding the identity of the baby. Appellant provided no alternate explanation at that point, but merely blurted out emotionally that she did not know why the police would not leave her alone especially in light of the fact that the baby was not identified the night before. This reaction gave the police additional probable cause to seize the baby. Only when appellant failed to satisfactorily explain the previous falsehood did they separate the baby from appellant, a separation that would be of short duration if the baby were not a kidnap victim. [19]