[UPDATE: Review has been granted by Cal. Sup. Ct. Below decision is no longer authority]
• Lester, 220 CA4 291, 162 CR3 907 (13):
A 911 caller reported four to five female subjects near a red car who were yelling and screaming and possibly going to engage in a physical fight. When the officer arrived after some delay, he saw that there was no red car outside.
Defendant and codefendant walked out of the more eastern of two apartments, which was attached to the 911 caller’s apartment. The officer asked the men what was going on.
The codefendant said, “There is a problem with my baby mama, but it’s all right now.” The defendant and codefendant were detained by two of the five other officers and sat down at the curb, because it was suspected that they were involved in the disturbance that caused the 911 call.
The officer knocked on the door of the Apt. to see if any of the females involved in the disturbance were there, but there was no answer. He opened the door, which was not locked, and announced himself, then entered in order to find the females and ensure that there was not a physical fight and they were not injured. He immediately detected the strong smell of marijuana.
No one was inside. However, he saw, in plain sight, suspected marijuana and cocaine.
Def’s motion to suppress was denied. The Court of Appeal, per Ramirez, P.J., affirmed.
Applying the reasoning in Troyer [51 Cal.4th 599 (11)], we note that the 911 caller believed the four to five female subjects were going to have a fight and the officer had been delayed in his arrival at the apartment. The four to five females were not present, nor was the car associated with them. However, defendant and the codefendant walked out of the apartment that was the source of the disturbance. The codefendant confirmed that there had, indeed, been a “problem,” and the officer was free to disbelieve his representation that everything was now all right. The 911 caller confirmed to the officer that a “large fight” had taken place at the apartment. No one answered the door at the apartment and the officer entered to find the females and make sure that none were injured. We agree with the trial court that these circumstances created a reasonable basis for the officer to believe that the females were in the apartment and in need of immediate aid.