Court Opinion

ID: 9705786
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 01:21:00.90535+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:15.268522
License: Public Domain

LANSING, Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent because I believe the search was justified by exigent circumstances. See State v. Hummel, 483 N.W.2d 68, 72 (Minn.1992) (exigent circumstances may consist of either a highly compelling single consideration, such as danger to persons, or a totality of circumstances).
The facts leading up to Frederick Fisher’s arrest are not in dispute. Police received a call reporting that shots had been fired at 2716 Portland Avenue South. A police sergeant, responding within minutes, heard at least one shot when he was about 50 yards from the building. The sergeant smelled gunpowder immediately upon entering the building. A person believed to be a tenant in the building said the shots had come from the second floor.
After the forced entry, the officers saw an expended shotgun shell casing on the floor of Fisher’s bedroom, but the weapon was not visible. Police observed fresh bruises or scrapes on Fisher’s back and were uncertain whether he was the shooter. The absence of the weapon and the possible existence of another “shooter” presented a real danger to other residents and the police. See United States v. Cunningham, 133 F.3d 1070, 1072 (8th Cir.1998) (warrantless search justified by exigent circumstances when safety of law enforcement officers or others is threatened), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 118 S.Ct. 1823, 140 L.Ed.2d 960 (1998); United States v. Antwine, 873 F.2d 1144, 1147 (8th Cir.1989) (safety of individuals may constitute exigent circumstances justifying warrantless search); State v. Loknes, 344 N.W.2d 605, 611-12 (Minn.1984) (fact that weapon had not been found added to exigent circumstances); Geer v. State, 406 N.W.2d 34, 37 (Minn.App.1987) (danger to public or arresting officers demonstrates exigent circumstances). The danger of a missing and presumably loaded shotgun and the possibility of another person who could shoot the gun created exigent circumstances that justified the search.