## Facts

- Police received an anonymous call reporting “domestic violence in progress” at 2639 Sumner, possibly involving “Debbie and Dale,” with a child in the home and uncertainty about weapons.
- Three officers responded around 5:30 p.m. and found the front door open several inches, lights on, a television audible, and no cars in the driveway.
- Officers knocked and announced their presence multiple times but received no response.
- Believing someone inside might be injured, incapacitated, or hiding, officers entered without a warrant and performed a limited sweep of areas large enough to contain a person.
- During the sweep, officers entered a bedroom and saw marijuana plants.
- Officers obtained a search warrant and later seized the marijuana plants.
- The State charged Dale Wayne Menz with unlawful manufacture of marijuana.
- The trial court denied Menz’s suppression motion, ruling the entry and sweep were justified by the emergency-aid/community-caretaking exception; Menz was convicted and sentenced to 60 days in jail.

## Issues

1. Whether the warrantless entry into Menz’s home was justified under the emergency-aid/community-caretaking exception based on a corroborated anonymous domestic-violence report.
2. Whether the officers exceeded the permissible scope of an emergency search by entering a bedroom, rendering the marijuana evidence subject to suppression.

## Decision

- The Washington Court of Appeals, Division Two, affirmed the conviction.
- The court held the warrantless entry and protective sweep were lawful under the emergency-aid/community-caretaking exception.
- The court held the anonymous domestic-violence report was sufficiently corroborated by on-scene observations (open door, lights and television on, no response to knocking/announcements).
- The court held the sweep’s scope properly included bedrooms because a victim could reasonably be located there.
- Because the initial entry and sweep were lawful, the subsequent warrant and seizure were not tainted, and suppression was properly denied.

## Legal Principles

- Warrantless home entries and searches are presumptively unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment and Washington Constitution article I, section 7, unless a recognized exception applies.
- Emergency-aid/community-caretaking entry is permitted when: (1) officers subjectively believe someone likely needs health or safety assistance, (2) that belief is objectively reasonable, and (3) there is a reasonable basis linking the perceived need to the place entered/searched.
- An anonymous domestic-violence report can justify warrantless entry when corroborated by circumstances indicating an immediate welfare concern, including an open door in winter, signs of occupancy, and no response to police presence.
- The permissible scope of an emergency search for a domestic-violence victim includes areas where a person could be located, including bedrooms.

## Conclusion

Police lawfully entered and swept the home under the emergency-aid exception because the corroborated domestic-violence report and on-scene conditions created an objectively reasonable belief that someone inside needed assistance, and the bedroom entry fell within the search’s permissible scope; the marijuana evidence was therefore admissible and the conviction was affirmed.


State v. Menz, 75 Wn. App. 351, 880 P.2d 48 (Wash. Ct. App. 1994)