Is Arrest Illegal After Police Entered Suspect's Home Without a Warrant to Investigate DUI Offence ?

In People v. Krueger, 208 Ill. App. 3d 897, 567 N.E.2d 717, 153 Ill. Dec. 759 (1991), the police suspected that the defendant had damaged several mailboxes while driving intoxicated. The police went to the defendant's home to investigate. The defendant did not respond to the police knocking on his door. A neighbor of the defendant's heard the noise that the police were making and went to talk with the police. After the police told her that the defendant had been in a car accident and that they wanted to talk with him, the neighbor let herself into the defendant's home. The neighbor returned and told the police that the defendant had vomit on him and that she was unable to wake him. However, the neighbor believed that the defendant was "fine." One of the police officers then insisted that the neighbor let them into the house so that they could check on the defendant's well-being. The neighbor then let them into the house. After checking the defendant's pulse and monitoring his breathing, the police awoke the defendant. They then questioned him about the alleged car accident. After the defendant made some inculpatory statements, the police arrested him. The defendant was subsequently charged with DUI and his driving privileges were suspended. Krueger, 208 Ill. App. 3d at 899-902. The defendant thereafter filed a petition to rescind his statutory suspension, arguing that his arrest was illegal because it followed a warrantless entry into his home. The trial court found that the defendant had been illegally arrested but nonetheless upheld his statutory suspension. The trial court explained that to grant rescission because the arrest of the defendant was illegal would amount to the improper application of the exclusionary rule to a civil proceeding. Krueger, 208 Ill. App. 3d at 903. On appeal, this court reversed. Krueger, 208 Ill. App. 3d at 910. The Court held that the arrest underlying a statutory suspension must be lawful and valid. Krueger, 208 Ill. App. 3d at 904. We further held that the arrest of the defendant was not valid. Krueger, 208 Ill. App. 3d at 908-09. The Court explained that the State did not meet its "heavy burden" in showing that the case fell within the "emergency exception" to the rule requiring the police to have either consent or a warrant before entering a residence. Krueger, 208 Ill. App. 3d at 908. At the time of entering the defendant's residence, the police knew only that he had returned home from a car accident, was upstairs sleeping, and had been described by a neighbor as "fine." The Court therefore found that the police had no reasonable grounds to believe that the defendant required their immediate assistance to safeguard his physical well-being. Krueger, 208 Ill. App. 3d at 908. The Court additionally found that the State did not meet its burden in showing that the entry was not motivated primarily by the intent to investigate or seize evidence in connection with the possible DUI offense. Krueger, 208 Ill. App. 3d at 908-09. The Court noted that there was nothing in the record to indicate that the police sought to provide medical assistance for the defendant's possible injuries. Krueger, 208 Ill. App. 3d at 909. Finally, we found that the officers' post-entry conduct was not limited to achieving the objective justifying the entry. Krueger, 208 Ill. App. 3d at 909.