Civil Rights — qualified immunity

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U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit

Civil

Civil Rights — qualified immunity

Where a woman threatened to kill herself, exigent circumstances justified the police in entering her home without a warrant and seizing her locked firearm.

“Based on the Supreme Court’s decision in Brigham City and this court’s decision in Fitzgerald, we conclude that the warrantless entry into Sutterfield’s home was justified. Under the circumstances confronting the defendant police officers, they had an objectively reasonable basis for believing that Sutterfield posed an imminent danger of harm to herself; the circumstances thus constituted an emergency which dispensed with the need for a warrant under the exigent circumstances exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement. Alternatively, even if the entry into Sutterfield’s home was inconsistent with the Fourth Amendment, a reasonable person would not have known that the entry violated Sutterfield’s clearly established rights; the officers would therefore be entitled to qualified immunity on the unlawful entry claim. Similarly, although we have assumed arguendo that both the search of the compact disc case in Sutterfield’s home and the seizure of the (lawfully-possessed) gun found inside of that case were contrary to the Fourth Amendment, we conclude that the defendant officers are entitled to qualified immunity on the unlawful search and seizure claims. We do not address Sutterfield’s summary contention that the officers’ seizure of her person for purposes of an emergency mental health evaluation pursuant to Wisconsin Statutes section 51.15 was contrary to the Fourth Amendment, as she has not adequately preserved that argument. Neither do we address Sutterfield’s contention that the seizure of her lawfully-possessed handgun violated her Second Amendment right to possess a firearm for the purpose of self-defense, as Sutterfield has not adequately developed and supported that contention, nor has she shown any defect in the available means of regaining possession of her gun from the authorities.”

Reversed and Remanded.

12-2272 Sutterfield v. City of Milwaukee

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Stadtmueller, J., Rovner, J.