LAWYER RESPONDS: Can Police Stick Their Foot in Your Door?

good evening sir how can i help you we need to have a little chat how should you handle this situation can you slam the door on the officer's foot should you even open the door in the first place i'm virginia lawyer andrew flushey and this channel is about defending your rights today we're defending your castle now an officer likely wouldn't just shove his foot in the door right when he first comes up it would probably happen a little more like this evening sir how can i help you i'm doing an investigation i need to talk with the guy who lives here we got a call from your neighbor that a dispute is going on will you step out here and talk with me for a moment no thank you i think i'll just stay inside smart man he probably watched my other video where i explained that you should never simply exit your home for the police while you're inside your home you have a lot of protections due to the constitution and the police would either need a search warrant or an arrest warrant to enter your home to get you out but if you voluntarily leave your home on the police's request then they may have the ability to arrest you right there on your front porch without a warrant your neighbor called us and they said there's a problem what's going on i don't want to talk oh we're just having a conversation i'm not whoa not so fast man can you slam the door on the officer's foot maybe but you're probably going to be charged with an assault and battery on a law enforcement officer there are two conflicting cases in virginia that cover this exact scenario in one case back in 2000 mr barnes was fleeing a warrantless arrest from the police when he ran into his home closed the door on the officer's foot and basically fought back trying to keep from being arrested the court ruled that he was allowed to resist what was an unlawful arrest with reasonable force and by simply trying to close his own door on the police that was using reasonable force to repel the unlawful arrest but even in that case the court admonished mr barnes that his behavior was unacceptable inappropriate and he caused himself all sorts of pain and havoc by having to be charged and going through this process to defend his good name simply the court said he shouldn't have done what he did what if you do slam the door on the police i said i'm not talking now i'm charging you with assault and battery on law enforcement unfortunately there's another case from 2020 that says that it might be an assault and battery on a law enforcement officer if you slam the door on their foot in that case ms carter argued that she was allowed to expel a trespasser from her home the police by trying to slam the door on him and then also fighting him off her when she was he was trying to arrest her the court in the carter case ruled that the police could lawfully detain her and that she did not actually tell him to leave her property before she allegedly was trying to eject the police as a trespasser in other words unless you want to fight off an assault and battery charge on a police officer you shouldn't slam the door on the police officer's foot well what should you do instead i don't want to talk oh we're just having a conversation i'm not i just want to ask you some questions officer please leave i invoke the fifth amendment that's the proper response don't get physical invoke your right to remain silent and simply disengage by backing away from the door inside your home now you've placed the burden on the officer to decide if he's going to actually come fully into your home to come get you he might do that but at that point he's got to justify the warrantless entry into your home if he has some kind of exception to the warrant requirement the court might rule that it's a justified entry into your home however it's going to be the burden of the officer and the prosecution to prove that they did things by the book and at this point you wouldn't have to fight off an assault and battery on a law enforcement charge let's see an even better approach to how you can handle the police at the door i'm not going to the door for the police smart guy he's got a video camera system that shows him who's at the door and if there's a police officer there who he didn't call and he doesn't want to talk to he's not even going to go to the door at all now the police don't know if you're even home or not and you've avoided the entire confrontation with the police and taking yourself out of that difficult situation so remember if the police are coming to your door and you didn't call them and you don't have any business with them you don't even have to go to the door in the first place what if the police have a warrant police we have a warrant this changes the situation if the police have a search warrant for your home they're going to be able to come in whether you let them in or not and if they have an arrest warrant and reason to believe that the person named in the warrant is inside the home at the time they also can likely come in if the police say that they have a warrant ask to see it if they do have a warrant your best course of action is to stand aside and let them execute the warrant remember that a warrant may entitle them to come in it may entitle them to search it may entitle them to arrest someone in the home maybe even you but it does not compel anyone to speak remain silent even if the police say they have a warrant now is a good time to get on the phone to your local criminal defense attorney and let them know what's going on for more tips on how to handle the police at the door check out my next video i'll see you over there and be sure to subscribe for a new video every other tuesday and remember don't talk to the police

Channel: Andrew Flusche Attorney at Law

Views: 2,076,188

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Id: Jm9NAMcCXoE

Length: 5min 20sec (320 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 27 2021