Uninformative 911 Call Supported Nonconsensual Entry into Home

United States v. Najar, --- F.3d ----, 2006 WL 1689231 (10th Cir. Jun 21, 2006)
In this felon-in-possession case, the Tenth Circuit found exigent circumstances supported the officers' nonconsensual entry into Mr. Najar's single-wide mobile home where there was a 911 hangup call early in the morning, the dispatcher's calls back to the residence resulted in someone picking up the phone and just laying it back down, Mr. Najar failed to go to the door for about 20 minutes, and when he did answer he denied calling 911 and said he was the only person there and everything was fine. Under such circumstances, the officers had reason to believe that someone was trying to prevent someone else from communicating with "safety officials." The Court "applaud[ed] the officers' restraint and circumspection" when they did not batter down the defendant's door in the wee hours of the morning.

Bottom line: a 911 call is a carte blanche for the cops to enter your home, and there is an implication that if you don't answer the door, the cops are within their rights to bust right in.