Legal Definitions - exigent search

Definition: An urgent and immediate search conducted without a warrant due to circumstances that require immediate action, such as the risk of destruction of evidence or danger to human life.

Examples:

• A police officer hears screams coming from a house and enters without a warrant to search for a victim or perpetrator.
• Police officers are in pursuit of a suspect who enters a building, and they enter without a warrant to prevent the suspect from escaping or harming others.
• A police officer sees a suspect throwing drugs out of a car window and immediately searches the car without a warrant to prevent the destruction of evidence.

These examples illustrate how exigent circumstances can justify a warrantless search. In each case, the police officer had probable cause to conduct a search, and the urgency of the situation made it impractical to obtain a warrant. However, exigent circumstances are limited, and the police must still act reasonably and proportionally to the situation.