Court rips San Carlos cops who broke into home SAN CARLOS

Police in San Carlos who heard that a man had been in a minor traffic accident and may have been drinking can't justify charging into his home with guns drawn by claiming they feared he was in a diabetic coma, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.

Based on the evidence at hand, no reasonable officer could have believed it was necessary to break into Bruce Hopkins' home and rescue him at gunpoint, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

The 3-0 ruling allows Hopkins to sue the two officers and the city of San Carlos over an August 2003 incident that began when he was driving home and got into what he described as a minor accident with another driver. Both got out, looked at their cars, found no damage and left.

The other driver, however, followed Hopkins home, the court said. She accused Hopkins of being drunk and telephoned police, saying she smelled alcohol on his breath.

Two police officers arrived, spoke with the woman, then knocked on the door and announced their presence but got no response. One then cut a hole in the screen door, and the officers entered with guns drawn.

They found Hopkins in his bedroom, handcuffed him and brought him outside, where the woman made a citizen's arrest.

A San Mateo County judge dismissed charges against Hopkins, finding that police had entered his home illegally. Hopkins then sued for damages.

In their defense, the officers said they had learned in police training that a person in the early stages of a diabetic emergency might seem, to an untrained observer, to have liquor on his breath.

The appeals court was not persuaded. The officers took no other steps to learn whether Hopkins needed medical help, the court noted - they did not try to telephone him or ask the other driver whether Hopkins was wearing a medical alert bracelet or showed other signs of distress.

Their explanation "would allow police officers to ignore the Fourth Amendment (ban on unreasonable searches) almost at will," Judge Stephen Reinhardt said in Thursday's ruling.

The court also said police were not entitled to rely on the other driver's unverified complaint to enter Hopkins' home without a warrant and arrest him on suspicion of drunken driving.

Hopkins' lawyer, Anthony Boskovich, said Hopkins had lost his new job with a local school district because of his arrest and had taken years to recover from the trauma of seeing police point guns at him.

A ruling that justified the officers' conduct "would have undermined the liberty of us all," Boskovich said.

A lawyer for the officers and the city declined to comment.