## Facts

- Police responded to a disturbance report that a man at a nearby residence was “going crazy.”
- Officers observed significant signs of disorder and possible recent violence: a pickup truck with its front smashed, damaged fenceposts, and three broken house windows with glass outside.
- Officers saw blood on the truck’s hood, on clothes inside the truck, and on a door to the house.
- Looking through a window, officers saw Jeremy Fisher inside the home screaming and throwing objects; the back door was locked and a couch blocked the front door.
- Officers observed Fisher had a cut on his hand and asked if he needed medical assistance; he ignored the questions and demanded the officers obtain a warrant.
- An officer pushed the front door partially open and stepped inside; through the opened doorway, the officer saw Fisher pointing a long gun at him and immediately withdrew.
- Fisher was charged under state law with assault with a dangerous weapon and felony-firearm possession.
- The trial court suppressed the officer’s testimony about the gun-pointing as the product of an unconstitutional warrantless entry; state appellate courts left the suppression in place.

## Issues

1. Whether the Fourth Amendment permitted warrantless entry into Fisher’s home under the emergency-aid exception based on an objectively reasonable belief that someone inside needed immediate assistance.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court reversed the state appellate judgment and remanded.
- The Court held that the warrantless entry was reasonable under the emergency-aid exception.
- The Court concluded officers had an objectively reasonable basis to believe someone inside might need immediate aid given the damaged property, visible blood, and Fisher’s violent, erratic behavior within a barricaded home.
- The Court rejected any requirement that officers have “ironclad proof” of a serious, life-threatening injury or that they must first take particular steps (such as calling medical personnel) to rely on emergency aid.

## Legal Principles

- The Fourth Amendment’s “ultimate touchstone” is reasonableness.
- Under the emergency-aid exception, officers may enter a home without a warrant when they have an objectively reasonable basis to believe a person inside needs immediate aid.
- The emergency-aid inquiry is objective and does not turn on officers’ subjective motives.
- Probable cause of a crime or near-certainty of serious injury is not required; the exception does not demand “ironclad proof” of life-threatening harm.

## Conclusion

The Court held that observable indicators of recent violence and injury, combined with ongoing erratic conduct inside a blocked residence, gave police an objectively reasonable basis to enter without a warrant to render emergency assistance, making the entry consistent with the Fourth Amendment.


Michigan v. Fisher, 558 U.S. 45 (2009)