Fourth Amendment Liberty Interest During Mental Health Crisis

Exigent circumstances exception allows warrantless entry and seizures when officers have reasonable basis to believe person poses imminent danger of harm to self

Sutterfield v. City of Milwaukee, 751 F.3d 542 (7th Cir. 2014)

Krysta Sutterfield sued the City of Milwaukee and several of its police officers after officers forcibly entered her home to effectuate an emergency detention for purposes of a mental health evaluation, opened a locked container, and seized for safekeeping the gun and concealed-carry licenses they found inside. Sutterfield contended that the officers in question violated her rights under the Second, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments. On appeal from the federal district court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, the Seventh Circuit held that the warrantless entry into Sutterfield's home was justified under the exigent circumstances exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement, as the officers had a reasonable basis to believe that Sutterfield posed an imminent danger of harm to herself. The Seventh Court ultimately affirmed the lower court’s grant of summary judgment to the defendants on the basis of qualified immunity, even assuming that the search of a closed container for a gun, and the ensuing seizure of that gun, violated Sutterfield's Fourth Amendment rights.

On appeal, only the liability of the individual officers was at issue. Sutterfield argued that the police officers' warrantless entry into her home, the seizure of her person, the search of the locked compact disc case, and the seizure of the revolver and the concealed carry licenses discovered therein all violated her rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments, and that the seizure of the gun and licenses also violated her rights under the Second Amendment. She further contended that because these rights were clearly established (in her view), the officers did not enjoy qualified immunity from suit. The two primary competing interests at stake in the case were Sutterfield’s privacy— specifically the right to be left alone in her home—and the important role police play in safeguarding individuals from dangers posed to themselves and others.

The Seventh Circuit noted that the Milwaukee police had been contacted by Sutterfield's physician with a concern that she might harm herself, and that Wisconsin law set forth an emergency detention procedure to deal with that sort of situation. Pursuant to section 51.15, a statement authorizing Sutterfield's emergency detention was prepared, and police executed that statement when they entered Sutterfield's home and took her into their custody. There was no suggestion that the officers acted for any reason other than to protect Sutterfield from harm. The Seventh Circuit also noted that their task was made more complicated by (1) the lack of information presented by the parties as to alternatives other than emergency detention, and (2) a lack of clarity in Fourth Amendment law as to the appropriate framework for examining warrantless intrusions motivated by purposes other than law-enforcement and evidence-gathering. Ultimately, however, the Seventh Circuit held that warrantless entry into appellant's home could not be sustained on the basis of the community caretaker doctrine, but was justified under the exigent circumstances exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement, as the officers had a reasonable basis to believe that appellant posed an imminent danger of harm to herself.

Found in DMHL Volume 34 Issue 1