Quote:
Originally Posted by CamaroSkooter
I've heard of cases where "exigent circumstances" was used to apprehend a criminal who was witnessed entering a specific building by police officers, and the officers pursued the criminal into said building without a warrant because they felt that not pursuing and waiting on a warrant would allow the criminal to get away.
That makes sense.
However, I've never heard of a case where "exigent circumstances" could be used by law enforcement to enter every structure in a given radius without a warrant and without any person witnessing that criminal enter any of those structures.
I fully agree that this guy was a lunatic and a danger to society. No one is arguing that. Of course he was an immediate danger to the public. What we're asking is, does that make it okay for officers to forcibly check every structure in a given radius without any reasonable suspicion that he has entered any of those structures? (i.e. a civilian or LEO witnessing the suspect enter a specific structure)
Let's look at a different scenario. A serial murderer is witnessed exiting a home on foot with multiple handguns and a rifle and law enforcement is notified. Is it then okay for law enforcement officers to enter every home in a 2 mile radius to look for the suspect, even if the witness is unable to specify which direction the suspect went or if he even entered any other home in that two-mile radius?
Let me be clear, for all we know, a neighbor of the home in the video might have seen someone enter the home and wasn't sure if they were a resident or not and they tipped authorities. Considering the number of people they yanked from that house, it's entirely possible one of them stepped outside to have a cigarette or something and a neighbor simply witnessed them walking back in afterwards. Who knows.
What I'm trying to establish is that law enforcement can't just enter every structure in a radius of a "last sighting" unless they have some kind of reasonable suspicion that the suspect entered a specific structure.
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let me ask you something, have you ever heard of a case like this? Where law enforcement know an area of where a terrorist, serial killer, etc, may be hiding? When I say area, I mean a reasonably small area, not a whole state or country/region. if so, can you provide a link?