Exigent Circumstances
Rule
Officers need not obtain a warrant when they cannot feasibly do so given the totality of the facts known to them at the time of the intrusion. Once the exigency ends, the warrantless search must also end.
Elements / Test
Three main categories of exigency:
- Hot pursuit: Police may pursue a fleeing suspect who has just committed a felony into a private dwelling without a warrant (Warden v. Hayden)
- Destruction of evidence: Police may enter without a warrant when there is an objectively reasonable belief that evidence is about to be destroyed — provided police did not themselves create the exigency by engaging in or threatening Fourth Amendment violations (Kentucky v. King)
- Emergency / community caretaking: Police may enter when they have an objectively reasonable basis for believing that an occupant inside is seriously injured or immediately threatened with serious injury (Brigham City v. Stuart)
Additional limitation — seriousness of underlying offense: A warrantless intrusion into the home is not justified for minor, non-jailable offenses even when evidence may dissipate (Welsh v. Wisconsin — DUI case; dissipating BAC does not justify warrantless home entry for a civil infraction)
Exceptions
- Police may temporarily seize premises (not search) while awaiting a warrant (Illinois v. McArthur), provided the restraint is limited in time and scope, police had probable cause, and evidence risked destruction
- Created-exigency doctrine: Officers may not deliberately create the exigency through unlawful conduct; but using normal investigative measures in the vicinity of a crime does not forfeit the ability to act on a true exigency (King)
Policy
Exigent circumstances exceptions reflect that the warrant process is premised on having time to go before a magistrate; emergencies by definition preclude that. The limitation that exigency must end when the emergency ends (Mincey) prevents police from bootstrapping a narrow lawful entry into an extended warrantless search.
Key Cases
- Warden v. Hayden — hot pursuit of armed bank robber into private dwelling permitted without warrant
- Kentucky v. King — police-created exigency doctrine: exigency valid where police did not engage in or threaten Fourth Amendment violations
- Mincey v. Arizona — warrantless search must end when exigency ends; four-day search of murder scene invalid
- Welsh v. Wisconsin — seriousness of underlying offense relevant to exigency; minor non-jailable offense insufficient
- Brigham City v. Stuart — community caretaking permits warrantless entry to assist seriously injured occupant