Case v. Montana · ¶16

This Court first approved a warrantless home entry to render emergency assistance in Brigham City. There, police officers responding to a noise complaint observed through a kitchen window a physical altercation between an adolescent and several adults. As they watched, the teenager punched one of the adults in the face, “sending [him] to the sink spitting blood.” 547 U. S., at 406. The officers immediately entered the home through a nearby screen door and, announcing their presence, caused the fght to cease. We unanimously approved the warrantless entry as “reasonable under the circumstances.” Ibid. And we explained what made it so: The officers had “an objectively reasonable basis for believing that an occupant [was] seriously injured or imminently threatened with such injury.” Id., at 400.

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