In a per curiam opinion the Supreme Court upheld the search of a Michigan residence, using what it called the emergency aid exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement.

Brownstown Michigan Police Officer Christopher Goolsby went to a residence to investigate a man acting out. He found a pickup in front of the house with the fender messed up. He found a man yelling and screaming inside. The man, Jeremy Fisher refused to let Goolsby and his partner into the house without a search warrant. Goolsby saw drops of blood on the hood of the pickup and on some clothes in the truck. When he refused to open the door, Goolsby broke in. At this point, Fisher pointed a gun at him. Fisher was charged with assault and with using a gun in a felony.

Fisher’s attorney brought a motion to suppress on Fourth Amendment grounds. He won the motion and the Michigan Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal. The Michigan Supreme Court agreed to hear the case but changed its mind after hearing argument.

The United States Supreme Court granted cert. the Court found that the facts came under the Emergency Aid Exception to the fourth Amendment’s Warrant requirement. The Supreme Court defined the emergency aid exception as to allow “law enforcement officers [to] enter a home without a warrant to render emergency assistance to an injured occupant or to protect an occupant from imminent injury.” While Fisher was obviously not seriously hurt someone else in the house may have been. Therefore, according to the court the search was reasonable and a proper application of the Emergency Aid Exception.

Justice Stevens (joined by Justice Sotomayor) dissented. They believe that if the trial court heard the case and the testimony of the officer and still felt that their was insufficient evidence to say that an emergency existed the Supreme Court should not get involved and leave it to the local courts.