Explain why "Hot Pursuit" is sometimes called "fresh pursuit" and how an officer's ability to enter a private dwelling may vary regarding a hot-pursuit entry for a felony in comparison to a relatively minor offense.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Hot pursuit, also sometimes called "Fresh Pursuit," is the chase by police personnel of a person whom the police have reason to believe has just committed a crime. As established in U.S. v. Santana, a police officer may arrest a suspect in a hot pursuit scenario without a warrant for the commission of a felony offense. The bottom line is if a suspect commits a crime (a felony offense) in a public place, he or she cannot frustrate an arrest by retreating inside a private residence. The police officers have the right to pursue the suspect on foot into and inside a private dwelling and effect the arrest that they had the right to make in a public place (U.S. v. Santana 427 U.S. 39, 1976). Welsh v. Wisconsin, however, has added a layer of uncertainty to the hot-pursuit doctrine espoused in Santana. In Welsh, officers had reason to believe that the driver of a vehicle involved in an accident was intoxicated and left the scene prior to the arrival of the police. The officers determined that the driver lived nearby and proceeded to his residence where they made a nonconsensual, warrantless entry to arrest Welsh for driving under the influence of alcohol, a first-offense punishable in that state at the time as a traffic offense with no possibility of jail time. The Supreme Court held that the warrantless entry into the residence was unlawful, because the need to arrest for a non-jailable traffic offense did not amount to an exigent circumstance. Although Welsh did not involve an entry pursuant to a hot pursuit, there is language in the opinion that suggests that the Court would be reluctant to uphold a hot-pursuit entry to arrest someone for a relatively minor offense. In particular, the majority opinion says that it is difficult to conceive a minor non-dangerous offense ever giving rise to exigent circumstances the way a felony in progress did in U.S. v. Santana. The nature of the involved offense is going to be a major factor, if not completely determinative in future hot-pursuit situations.