TX13: Emergency entry is based on what’s supposedly happening in the home, not outside it

Emergency entry is based on what’s supposedly happening in the home, not outside it. State v. Bland, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 12427 (Tex. App. – Corpus Christi – Edinburg October 3, 2013):

The State contends that Officer Lang’s presence inside the home was justified because he had a reasonable belief that there was an ongoing emergency and that Bland could “provide them with the details about who and where the wounded man was that were needed to help them resolve the emergency.” However, the scope of the emergency aid doctrine is limited to an emergency involving a person “within” the premises. See Mincey, 437 U.S. at 392 (recognizing “that the Fourth Amendment does not bar police officers from making warrantless entries and searches when they reasonably believe that a person within is in need of immediate aid”) (emphasis added). Thus, for purposes of the emergency aid doctrine, the emergency that justified the warrantless entry and search of the premises in this case ended when Officer Lang determined that no one inside the house needed immediate medical attention, which was before he approached Bland for the second time. See id.; Laney, 117 S.W.3d at 862 (stating that the warrantless entry and search must be “strictly circumscribed by the exigencies which justify . . . [their] initiation”). Furthermore, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has held that an officer’s warrantless presence within a home is not justified under the emergency aid doctrine when it is clear that he perceived no emergency that would require remaining in the home in order “to protect or preserve life or avoid serious injury.” Miller v. State, 393 S.W.3d 255, 265 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012). Therefore, we reject the State’s contention that Officer Lang was still acting within the scope of the emergency aid doctrine when he approached Bland for the second time and observed the crack pipe in plain view, which is the sole basis asserted by the State to support the lawfulness of Officer Lang’s warrantless search of the house that led to the discovery and seizure of the suppressed evidence. Accordingly, without further discussion, we overrule the State’s issues. See Tex. R. App. P. 47.1.