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CA2: Protective sweep during "knock and talk" was legally unjustified

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

The police did a “knock and talk” and then did a protective sweep without reason. The protective sweep was invalid. United States v. Hassock, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 1757 (2d Cir. January 28, 2011): In this case, it is not necessary to determine whether the protective sweep exception is limited to situations involving the execution of legal process (as was the case in Miller) or extends (as the government urges) to any situation where police are lawfully on the premises for a legitimate governmental reason antecedent to the sweep. Certainly the agents here had no legal process and, although they went to the Hassock apartment with a legitimate purpose — the questioning and possible arrest of Hassock — when Hassock did not answer the door, that purpose could not be pursued until Hassock was found...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on January 29, 2011 (boomark / email).