CT: Chasing fleeing felon into a house at 3 a.m. was with exigent circumstances

Entry into a house at 3 a.m. was with probable cause and exigent circumstances chasing a fleeing probable felon. State v. Owen, 126 Conn. App. 358, 10 A.3d 1100 (2011):

Here, the evidence readily would persuade a reasonable person to believe that criminal activity had occurred in that three police officers, at 3 a.m., heard the sound of multiple gunshots close to their location in a residential area. The evidence also would lead a reasonable person to believe that there was a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime would be found in 1050 Stratford Avenue. Within moments of hearing the sound of gunshots, the officers arrived at the location of the gunshots. They observed four men fleeing the scene, which was an otherwise deserted city street. A reasonable person would infer that their presence in the area of the gunshots, the early hour and their flight was consistent with their involvement in criminal activity related to the gunshots. The three men who did not flee into the residence were apprehended, searched and found to be unarmed. On these facts, a reasonable person would suspect that the fourth man, who was observed fleeing into the residence, was in possession of evidence of a crime, to wit: the gun used in the incident. Upon knocking at the door of the residence, the police did not learn any facts that would dispel their suspicions, but spoke with Smith, who provided them with facts concerning who was present in the residence. These representations, however, contradicted what the police officers themselves had witnessed moments earlier, thus heightening in the mind of a reasonable person a suspicion that criminal activity was afoot in the residence.

A student and his parents sued their school district because of a suspicionless drug dog sniff of school property that led to another student getting arrested. By the time the case reached the Connecticut Supreme Court, the student had graduated, and, because there wasn’t another similar search in the meantime, the case was moot. Burbank v. Bd. of Educ. of Canton, 299 Conn. 833, 11 A.3d 658 (2011).*