Hunsberger v. Wood

• Decision Date: 29 June 2009
• Docket Number: No. 08-1782.,08-1782.
• Citation: 570 F.3d 546
• Parties: Mark J. HUNSBERGER; Cheryl A. Hunsberger, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. J.A. WOOD, Deputy Sheriff, Botetourt County Sheriff's Office, Defendant-Appellant, and William W. Blessard; John Doe, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

570 F.3d 546

Mark J. HUNSBERGER; Cheryl A. Hunsberger, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. J.A. WOOD, Deputy Sheriff, Botetourt County Sheriff's Office, Defendant-Appellant, and William W. Blessard; John Doe, Defendants.

No. 08-1782.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued: May 15, 2009.

Decided: June 29, 2009.

ARGUED: Elizabeth Kay Dillon, Guynn, Memmer & Dillon, PC, Salem, Virginia, for Appellant. Melvin Edward Williams, Grimes & Williams, PC, Roanoke, Virginia, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Terry N. Grimes, Grimes & Williams, PC, Roanoke, Virginia, for Appellees.

Before WILKINSON and TRAXLER, Circuit Judges, and C. ARLEN BEAM, Senior Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, sitting by designation.

Reversed and remanded by published opinion. Judge WILKINSON wrote the opinion, in which Judge TRAXLER and Senior Judge BEAM joined.

OPINION

WILKINSON, Circuit Judge:

Sergeant J.A. Wood appeals the district court's denial of qualified immunity in this civil suit arising out of Wood's warrantless entry into the plaintiffs' home. Because the objective circumstances confronted by defendant on the night in question suggested that plaintiffs' home was being vandalized and that a missing teenage girl was in the house and in need of assistance, the search was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment exigent circumstances doctrine. We thus reverse the judgment of the district court and grant the defendant qualified immunity in this case.

I.

At 10:17 p.m. on February 2, 2007, a woman named Charlene Klik called 911 to report suspicious activity near her home in Roanoke, which is located in Botetourt County, Virginia. Klik had noticed a number of cars coming and going from the home of her neighbors, Mark and Cheryl Hunsberger. Because the lights in the house were off and she had not seen her neighbors in a couple of days, Klik thought that the Hunsbergers might be on vacation. She saw teenagers getting in and out of the cars in front of the home and became concerned that vandalism or burglary might be taking place.

In response to Klik's 911 call, the Botetourt County Sheriff's Office dispatched Sergeant J.A. Wood and Deputy Sheriff Jody Edwards to the scene. After Edwards briefly spoke to Klik, the two officers observed the home and the surrounding area from their cars for several minutes. The officers saw that some of the lights were on in the house and two cars were parked in front. Seeing and hearing nothing suspicious, they left the scene at approximately 10:37 p.m.

Contrary to Klik's belief, Mark and Cheryl Hunsberger were at home that night, as were their three children: their son Zach, then eighteen years of age; their son LH, then sixteen; and their daughter JH, then ten.¹ Five friends of the two Hunsberger boys were present as well, including NW, a minor girl who was then sixteen. Between 9:00 and 9:30 p.m., the Hunsbergers put JH to bed and then watched television in the garage until approximately 11:00 p.m., when they went to bed.

The teenage children and their friends, who had earlier been at another friend's house, arrived at the Hunsberger home in two cars around 9:00 p.m. The teenagers went to the basement, where they watched television and played card games. Some of them drank beer and vodka. While at the Hunsberger home, several of the teenagers came outside the house at various times to smoke cigarettes and to retrieve items from their cars.

At approximately 11:00 p.m., the mother of one of the friends drove to the house to pick up her daughter; she also gave NW a ride to another friend's home where NW's car was parked. NW then drove back to the Hunsberger home in her own vehicle. Around midnight, Zach and another boy, Aaron Cooper, briefly left to go purchase beer.

The earlier visit by Edwards and Wood had not allayed Klik's fears, and after seeing additional activity at the house she again called 911 at 12:10 a.m. Edwards and Wood again were dispatched to investigate. While sitting in his vehicle, Wood observed a young man come into the garage, turn on the lights, turn them off again, and reenter the house. Edwards spoke to Klik, who said she was worried about vandalism or burglary at the Hunsberger home, and Edwards relayed Klik's fears to Wood. The officers noticed that a third car, the one driven by NW, was now parked in front of the Hunsberger home. All three cars partially blocked the road.

The officers decided to ask the occupants of the Hunsberger home to move their cars and avoid disturbing the neighbors. They each pulled their cars into the Hunsberger home's driveway, at which point they noticed the lights inside the house turn off. Edwards and Wood exited their vehicles, approached the house, and rang the home's doorbell twenty-five or thirty times. No one came to the door.

Plaintiffs say they never heard the doorbell. The Hunsberger boys and their friends, however, did notice the officers' arrival. When the officers approached the house, Zach and one of his friends, Matt Deane, exited the house through the garage and ran to another friend's home. LH went to his bedroom. NW and two of the other friends hid under the stairwell in the basement.

Walking back to their cars, the two officers noticed that the previously closed side door to the garage, which Zach and Matt Deane had just run through to avoid the officers, was now open. Wood stepped into the garage and knocked on the door inside that led into the house. No one answered. Edwards and Wood returned to their cars.

The officers decided to contact the dispatcher to identify the owners of the vehicles in front of the house using the cars' license plate information. The dispatcher routed calls to each of the car owners to Wood's cell phone. Wood spoke to several parents including William Blessard, NW's stepfather. Each agreed to pick up his or her respective vehicle.

It struck Wood as suspicious that the occupants of the home had turned off the lights when the officers approached, had refused to answer the door, and had apparently fled the home. Given Klik's claim that the Hunsbergers might be out of town, Wood became concerned about the possibility of vandalism. Wood also took into consideration the fact that two weeks earlier a vacant house nearby had burned down as the apparent result of unauthorized use.

Blessard was the first parent to arrive. Blessard told Wood that NW was supposed to be sleeping over at a friend's house, and that he did not know why her car was at the home of the Hunsbergers, whom he did not know. Blessard called NW's cellphone several times, but she did not answer. He became worried for the welfare of his stepdaughter.

Wood suggested to Blessard that they see if anyone would come to the Hunsberger home's door if they rang the doorbell. Walking towards the front door, they passed the garage, when Wood heard something being knocked over. Wood stepped inside the garage and then heard the door that connected the garage to the house's basement shut and lock. Blessard followed Wood into the garage, walked down the steps to the basement door, knocked repeatedly, and shouted NW's name. No one came to the door, and Blessard's apprehensions rose.

Wood then approached the door inside the garage that opened into the first floor of the home. He discovered it was unlocked. The series of strange happenings had increased Wood's fears of vandalism as well as his concern for the welfare of Blessard's stepdaughter. At that point, Wood decided to enter the home. Wood proceeded into the kitchen area and loudly announced that he was from the sheriff's office and that anyone in the home who was hiding should reveal himself. Blessard followed Wood into the home.

The lights were off in the home. Using his flashlight, Wood searched the first floor of the home and found no one present. He then went downstairs to the basement and Blessard followed. The two men encountered no one in the basement, but noticed that the television was turned on and saw several cans of beer. Wood and Blessard came back upstairs. Wood made another sweep of the first floor, but again found no one present.

Wood then proceeded up to the second floor, on which there were four bedrooms. As Wood looked in the first bedroom, which was empty, Blessard joined him on the second floor. As Wood entered the next bedroom, a dog walked out of a closet. Wood approached the closet, in which he discovered LH sitting on the floor and wearing only his boxer shorts. Wood says that he asked LH where everyone else was, and that LH said "they are not here." Wood exited the room to check the next bedroom, and LH walked out of the closet and went downstairs.

Wood searched the third bedroom with his flashlight, while Blessard stood by the doorway. Wood discovered JH lying under the covers in bed. JH remembers waking up to someone pointing a flashlight around her room, and that, half-asleep, she told them to leave her alone. Mark Hunsberger and Cheryl Hunsberger say they heard JH scream, which caused them to wake up. LH also says he heard JH scream at some point, but Wood and Blessard do not recall her screaming. JH had the covers pulled over part of her face. Wood approached her bed and pulled the covers down to reveal her face. Wood asked Blessard if the girl was his stepdaughter, and Blessard said no.

Wood checked the rest of the room and then stepped back into the hallway. At that point Mark Hunsberger, having just woken up, exited his bedroom and encountered the two men. Hunsberger asked Wood why the men were in his house. Wood said that Blessard was looking for NW. Hunsberger said that they should all go downstairs. The three men went into the kitchen on the first floor, and Wood attempted to explain in more detail why he and Blessard had entered the home. Shortly thereafter, Cheryl Hunsberger joined them. She asked for Wood's name and for an explanation of his and Blessard's presence. Mark Hunsberger became very upset with the...