U.S. v. Tepiew

In prosecution on charge of assault resulting in serious bodily injury, Dist. Ct. did not err in denying defendant’s motion to suppress her confession that was made after police had made warrantless entry into her home, where police had previously learned that defendant’s 7-year-old child made report to school counselor indicating that defendant’s one-year-old son had sustained unspecified injury to his head. Record showed that police officer, after learning of school report, knocked on defendant’s door to investigate matter and heard fast-paced walking from within said home and believed that door had just been locked. As such, emergency aid exception to warrantless search prohibition under 4^th Amendment applied, where officer had reasonable belief that there was urgent need to provide care to toddler given claim made to counselor that toddler’s head was still “puffy,” and where officer believed that someone inside home was actively trying not to speak to him. Ct. rejected defendant’s argument that: (1) there was no evidence of ongoing emergency because officers were responding on Monday to alleged incident that had occurred during prior weekend; and (2) officers had failed to behave in way demonstrating that they actually had believed that emergency existed, where officer initially sought child protective services and had called for backup prior to attempting to enter defendant’s home.