Two nights ago around midnight, I heard some yelling in my usually quite building. About 5 minutes later a lady knocks on my door.
I answer it and I can hear a neighbor screaming “Help help, someone please help me…”
She’s asking if I have a phone
So we try yelling are you OK do you want an ambulance? The Police?
But he’s just yelling help someone’s gotta help me.
So my phone is by my front door so I take it into the hall and I call 911 and tell them. I say listen I don’t know what to do, this man is yelling for help. I don’t know what to do. We can’t get in, he won’t open the door. The 911 operator says she can hear him and says she’ll send the cops.
So like in 15 minutes the cops show up and pound on the door. They then announce they can’t break down the door as it is illegal and only the fire department can do that.
So I’m like this man has been screaming; someone please help me for 20 minutes now; and if he was being murdered you can’t go in.
Then you announce the fact you can’t break the door down so if he IS being murdered the killer can climb out the window?
As it turns out the guy was dreaming. The cops banged and banged and they radio the fire department and just then he opens the door.
BTW most of the people in my building are immigrants and speak no English. I found out I’m the only one on my floor with a phone. That is why it didn’t seem all that out of place that he didn’t answer us. We assumed he didn’t understad us.
But anyhow he was OK but is it true cops can’t break down a door?
BTW this is Chicago
AFAIK, cops can break down a door if they have a warrant or if they have reasonable cause to believe that a crime is in progress or that someone is in immediate danger.
In the case that you describe it is fortunate that the cops did not break down the door; but it sounds as if they might have had reasonable cause to believe that someone was in danger, and I think they would have been legally allowed to break in.
It’s always been my understanding that police need a warrant to enter your home. I know they can search with probable cause, but I’m not sure how that extends to entering a home.
I can’t comment on Illinois law, but I know US Fourth Amendment law well enough to know the cops could have broken down the door if they wanted to. Unless Illinois law is even more restrictive than my Washington State law (very unlikely), there should have been no problem with forcing entry.
The fact that the cop said they needed the fire department leads me to believe this might be a department policy to prevent officers from being injured by kicking down the door. Instead they wait for the fire department with better equipment. This is only a guess.
This is not a situation that required a search warrant. This is what is called an “exigent circumstance”, meaning an emergency exists that allows a search without a warrant. It would also be covered by what the courts call the “community caretaking function” of law enforcement (our duty to provide assistance to the public). I would have had no qualms about kicking the door.