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CA9: Warrantless entry to arrest plaintiff for DWI clearly violated Payton

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Officers held liable for warrantless entry to arrest defendant for allegedly being DWI when there was an alleged accident with no property damage. Their "audacious" excuse of expected plaintiff to be diabetic and going into a coma as the excuse for the entry is rejected. Hopkins v. Bonvicino, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 15689 (9th Cir. July 16, 2009): On August 22, 2003, two San Carlos Police Officers broke into Bruce Hopkins' home. They did not have a warrant, nor did they have probable cause. All that they had was a statement from a third-party that Hopkins had been involved in an extremely minor traffic incident, an incident so minor that it did not cause as much as a scratch on either of the vehicles involved, and that he appeared to have been drinking...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on July 20, 2009 (boomark / email).