Court: Cops can enter home if dog in distress - Page 1

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by BlacqueKat on 04 June 2010 - 15:06

Court: Cops can enter home if dog in distress
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, June 4, 2010
A report of a dog crying in distress can constitute an emergency that justifies police entering a home without a warrant, a state appeals court ruled Thursday in upholding a Los Angeles County man's conviction for animal cruelty.

In appealing Keith Chung's conviction and 16-month prison sentence, his lawyer argued that officers may disregard the normal requirement that they obtain a search warrant only if a human life is at stake.

But the Second District Court of Appeal said that although pets are considered personal property, protecting them is a legitimate government concern.

Police can conduct a search without a judge's approval "when an officer reasonably believes immediate warrantless entry into a residence is required to aid a live animal in distress," Presiding Justice Joan Dempsey Klein said in the 3-0 ruling.

The court said a woman in Marina del Rey called police early one morning in July 2007 and said she and her husband had been awakened by the sound of a dog howling in apparent pain for about 15 minutes in Chung's condominium upstairs. She said she heard similar noises several times a week.

Police went to see Chung, who told them he didn't own any dogs. When an officer heard what sounded like a dog whimpering from inside, he handcuffed Chung and entered the condominium. There he found an injured dog lying on a towel in the patio and the body of another dog in the freezer, the court said.

After unsuccessfully challenging the search, Chung pleaded no contest to animal cruelty. In his appeal, his lawyer argued that police should have sought a warrant before entering because there were innocent explanations for the sounds reported by the neighbor, who was embroiled in another dispute with Chung over water damage to her unit.

Chung's lawyer, William Heyman, said he would appeal the ruling.

The ruling in People vs. Chung, B212210, can be read at links.sfgate.com/ZJUC.

E-mail Bob Egelko at begelko@sfchronicle.com.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/03/BA8Q1DPK7V.DTL


GSDSRULE

by GSDSRULE on 04 June 2010 - 18:06


by VomMarischal on 04 June 2010 - 19:06

Heck, it would have stopped Janice Bartmess in her tracks! You know they are only going to use it as probable cause when they really want someone... 

by TessJ10 on 04 June 2010 - 19:06

I wouldn't count on it.  Very easy to have cops show up, dog inside house goes nuts barking furiously at the cops outside, cops say, gee whiz, listen to that...sure sounds like distress to me....

by VomMarischal on 04 June 2010 - 19:06

I doubt that. They know the difference between pain and guarding. Anyway my dogs sound entirely different in the two scenarios... actually, if my dogs are in distress, I would WANT somebody to be able to legally go in and get them. They actually do anyway. A couple years ago my neighbors lost their house, and left dogs and cats there. I complained, and the cops broke a window and went in to check on them. Said there was poo and pee everywhere, but there was also food and water, so they couldn't do anything about it.

by TessJ10 on 04 June 2010 - 19:06

Of course they know the difference.  That's my point.  They know, but if the dog is vocalizing they can always SAY that it sure sounded distressed to them.  "Sounded distressed/upset to me."  You can't argue with that.  It's purely subjective.  IOW, this is a wonderful excuse to enter w/o a warrant.  Cops swear the dog sounded like it was in trouble to them and it allows them to go in.


by VomMarischal on 04 June 2010 - 19:06

I suppose so, but to me it sounds more like a law to give cops PC. Sort of like having a tail light out...they rarely ticket for that because they might want to use it later as PC to stop someone. I personally would be glad if they came in to see if my dogs were ok...but they will have to forgive the dog hair LOL. 

My question is...why do you think the cops are up to no good? It sounds like animal welfare to me. 

yoshy

by yoshy on 04 June 2010 - 19:06

this is distastful in so many ways-

however on the topic of "Probable Cause"-

Police hear noise or recieve complaint- Cops enter and my PPD protects against the police officer entering my home as he should?

Lets say your dog gets sick while at work-police officer hears whining- come in- see dog crate messy-    you get locked up for animal neglect?

cops hear dogs barking in your home for anything- its suddenly there judgment call to enter which provides a large grey area- in which will most likely end up with you being screwed in the end. Im sorry the danger from the reprocutions of allowing that as a reason to enter our homes is far greater than the good that it could provide.

With the poor pupsy wupsy crowd among us whom have a different set of beleifs of what dogs are,should be used for, trained, etc...... all it would take is one bad day to loose your dogs and go to prison because of something like this.
Noone can say they have never had a sick dog- or a dog mess in there crate- or a dog drink all there water before you refill it- or had a dog making noise- or something get destroyed. or how many times have you been told you need to fatten your puppy up(we know this not to be true) but what if cop comes in and says your starving your dog- and had feces in his crate from being sick? all it would take is one day someone entered your home and call neglect on any of the above mention scenarios if they didnt knwo the context in which things happen and you have no way to prove otherwise. Then off to court you go- possibly loose your animals, jail time, fines etc..... all because of something stupid.


So think about that-

anyone hear that knows me knows that i take exceptional care of my animals as well as my clients animals. I have people in and out of my home quite often-
 
but all it takes is bad day and the police could take your life because of having another BS reason to enter your home.





by VomMarischal on 04 June 2010 - 19:06

Oh by the way, I've been reading scary stories about pit bulls/pit bull type dogs. Apparently gang gypes starve the dogs and/or give them crack to make them really mean. They have actually been known to dispose of human bodies this way...chop it up and feed it to the dogs. I would HOPE that the sound of a starving moaning dog would bring some help or intervention. I would also hope that if some sadist was chopping up dogs, the cops could come in. They can come into my house any day, any time! But maybe that's because I used to BE one, a hundred years ago. 

by VomMarischal on 04 June 2010 - 19:06

Yoshy, I see your point of course, but cops generally have their hands too full to drive around and look for excuses to go into someone's house. Barking dogs calls mostly go to AC anyway. It would be an extremely rare event that cops would just randomly use the law to get into people's houses. Of course, some cops ARE assholes, but not too many.





 


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