Shel W. answered • 02/25/25
Founder, Wise Law LLC | Brooklyn Law & UVa Graduate
The exigent circumstances exception to 4th Amendment search warrant requirements has two factors: “(1) that the officer had probable cause to search or arrest; and (2) that exigent circumstances justified the warrantless intrusion.” Sheehan v. City & Cnty. of San Francisco, 743 F.3d 1211, 1221 (9th Cir. 2014). The Ninth Circuit generally defines “exigent circumstances as those circumstances that would cause a reasonable person to believe that entry . . . was necessary to prevent physical harm to the officers or other persons, the destruction of relevant evidence, the escape of the suspect, or some other consequence improperly frustrating legitimate law enforcement efforts.” United States v. Martinez, 406 F.3d 1160, 1164 (9th Cir. 2005).
HOWEVER, "police-created" exigency is NOT reason to support exigent circumstances. This is one of my favorite criminal law cases and worth the read: Kentucky v. King, 563 U.S. 452, 462 (2011), holding that officers unlawfully created exigency when (1) their knock caused suspect to make crashing noises inside home that were basis for exigency, and (2) officers were unlawfully standing on curtilage of suspect’s home because it was three a.m. and their only purpose was to arrest defendant.
Birchfield v. North Dakota, 579 U.S. 438, 456 (2016). The exigent circumstances exception allows a warrantless search when an emergency leaves police insufficient time to seek a warrant. It permits, for instance, the warrantless entry of private property when there is a need to provide urgent aid to those inside, when police are in hot pursuit of a fleeing suspect, and when police fear the imminent destruction of evidence.
Michigan v. Tyler, 436 U.S. 499, 509–10 (1979), recognizing entering a burning building to put out a fire and investigate its cause constitutes exigent circumstances.
