Sanders v. United States

Whether the community caretaker exception to the Fourth Amendment allowed law enforcement to make warrantless entry into the home of Mr. Sanders, his girlfriend, and three children – less than fifty seconds after their initial knock for a welfare check – where: (1) police suspected he had fought with and caused minor scratches to the face of his girlfriend, who assured officers that she and her 11, 7 and 1 year-old children were all fine; and (2) police heard a child crying inside the home after expressly assenting to the girlfriend reentering the house to ask Mr. Sanders to come out?