Case v. Montana · ¶22

Doing so here yields a ready conclusion: The officers had, as Brigham City requires, an “objectively reasonable basis for believing” that their intervention was needed to prevent serious harm. As earlier described, the officers knew frsthand that Case suffered from mental-health and alcohol- abuse problems, and that he had previously talked about committing suicide. See supra, at 111. When they reached Case's house, they learned about J. H. and Case's just concluded phone call—that Case, in an apparently inebriated state, threatened to kill himself, spoke of preparing a suicide note, and quite possibly cocked or even shot a gun before the line went dead. The concerns that call raised were heightened by what the officers could see through the windows— empty beer cans, an empty holster, and a notepad—as well as by Case's failure to respond to their urgent knocking. If Case had already…

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