People v. Jordan

Opinion

DRAPER, P. J. Police Officers Price and Lawrence received a radio call reporting a possible family dispute and “a man with a gun” at 15 and 20 Apollo Street. Officer Price testified that the listing of two addresses indicated that “more than one person had initiated a call.” Upon arrival in the area, Officer Price observed a police car, unoccupied, in the neighborhood of No. 20. (Other evidence established that officers in another patrol car, answering a slightly earlier call, had left their car and taken cover when appellant pointed a rifle at them from across the same street.) Price saw a man in front of No. 15 pointing a rifle down the street and in the direction of that police car. As the patrol car stopped, the rifleman [appellant] turned and ran into the house at No. 15, cariying the rifle. The officers approached and after peering into the house through the door appellant had left open, Price entered. He saw appellant, [967]unarmed, coming down a hallway from the rear. When Price asked where the gun was, appellant answered that he did not have a gun, and that what Price had observed was a broomstick. Appellant was taken into custody by one officer, and Price went down the hall from which appellant had come. In a bedroom opening off the hall he found a rifle under the bed. Appellant moved to suppress evidence of the rifle. The motion was denied, he pleaded guilty to two lesser misdemeanor offenses and was admitted to three years probation on condition he serve 45 days in county jail. He appeals, urging error in denial of his motion to suppress.

It is quite true that entry of the bedroom cannot be justified as a mere incident to the arrest of appellant. (Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 763 [23 L.Ed.2d 685, 694, 89 S.Ct. 2034]; Mestas v. Superior Court, 7 Cal.3d 537, 541 [102 Cal.Rptr. 729, 498 P.2d 977].) Routine searches cannot extend beyond the room in which the suspect is arrested [here the living room or the hall], but “the facts and circumstances of the case may nevertheless permit entry of other parts of the house.” (People v. Bagwell, 38 Cal.App.3d 127, 131 [113 Cal.Rptr. 122].)

Our Supreme Court has approved entry of rooms of a house beyond that in which arrest is made to seek others “who were involved in the offenses charged, or who might pose a security risk for the arresting officers.” (People v. Block, 6 Cal.3d 239, 245 [103 Cal.Rptr. 281, 499 P.2d 961].) A later decision more strongly emphasizes the element of risk to the officers as warranting entrance of other rooms. (Guidi v. Superior Court, 10 Cal.3d 1 [109 Cal.Rptr. 684, 513 P.2d 908].)