SCOTUSblog by Amy Howe 6/23/2021
The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that when police are pursuing someone for a misdemeanor, that pursuit does not automatically create the kind of emergency that allows the officer to follow the suspect into a home without a warrant. The court acknowledged that many cases will involve such emergencies – but that determination, Justice Elena Kagan stressed in her opinion for the court, will depend on the facts of each case.
The decision came in the case of Arthur Lange, a California man convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol. In 2016, Lange was returning to his home in Sonoma when a police officer began to follow Lange’s car. The officer, Aaron Weikert, later testified that he wanted to stop Lange because he was “playing music very loudly” and honked his horn several times even though there weren’t any cars in front of him.
Shortly before Lange pulled into his driveway, Weikert turned on his overhead lights. But Lange – who later said that he had not seen Weikert – continued into his garage and began to close the door. Weikert, who had quickly parked in the driveway, followed Lange into the garage. Once there, Weikert said, he smelled alcohol. Lange was taken to a hospital, where testing determined his blood-alcohol level to be 0.245% — more than three times the legal limit.
More:
https://www.scotusblog.com/2021/06/court-declines-to-endorse-warrantless-entries-in-all-hot-pursuits-for-misdemeanors/