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Police were called on May 27, 2004 by a receptionist at a Passaic company who said she’d taken in a young girl whom she’d just found crying hysterically outside.
“Kath
Anthony Boganleen”, then 14, told the woman that a family friend offered her a ride to school but took her to a Clifton apartment instead.
There, Kathleen told police, he groped her over her clothing, touching her between her legs. She also told them a young boy was in the apartment.
Three officers took the girl to the Clifton address, where she spotted a gray Audi that she said was driven by the suspect, identified as Anthony Bogan (photo left). A Clifton officer rang the bell.
“Who is it?” a male-sounding voice shouted from inside.
The boy, about 12 years old, opened the door in his pajamas. He seemed “unsure and nervous,” police reported. He also said he was home alone — on a school day, they said.
A single Clifton officer followed the boy to the top of the stairs and was waiting at the door when a kitchen phone rang. The boy quickly hung up, but then it rang again, according to the police report.
The officer said he asked the boy for the phone, then stepped into the apartment. As he took the receiver, he said, he noticed the 6-foot, 235-pound Bogan lying on the bottom bunk of a bed in a nearby room.
The officer said he motioned for his colleagues to come inside, where they read Bogan his Miranda rights and took him into custody after learning of several outstanding warrants for his arrest.
Meanwhile, the officer on the phone said he found himself talking with the boy’s mother, who said Bogan, her boyfriend, was supposed to be babysitting the youngster.
As they led him away, the officers said, Bogan admitted giving the girl a ride but denied touching her. For some reason, he also pointed out that she looked 18, they testified.
Among others who took the stand at Bogan’s trial was “Kathleen,” who repeated her story. Once he stopped touching her, she said, Bogan fell asleep. As she left, she said, she spotted the boy — who sometimes played with her brother — sitting in the living room playing a video game.
Bogan, who contended she made up the story as an alibi for cutting school, was convicted of luring, sexual contact and endangerment.
He appealed, claiming that his statements shouldn’t have been used against him because the officers entered the apartment without a warrant.
A state appeals court agreed that police should have gotten a warrant before going in. The judges suppressed Bogan’s statements and ordered a new trial.
Not so fast, the Supremes said.
In its unanimous decision, the state’s highest court this week said the officers proceeded legally amid “swiftly moving events and uncertain circumstances.”
Entering the apartment to find the boy’s parent “was justified by the community caretaking doctrine,” the panel ruled. “[T]he officer had a duty to identify a responsible adult for the child and to ensure his safety.”
Yes, the Fourth Amendment guarantees us the right to be secure in our homes without unreasonable governmental intrusion. But there are exceptions.
As the high court noted, cops aren’t just law enforcement officers: Their duties include “a wide range of social services, such as aiding those in danger of harm.”
That is where the “community caretaking doctrine” comes in, authorizing police to protecting the welfare of children, they said.
“It is well-recognized that leaving children unattended may constitute a significant threat to their safety and welfare,” the Supremes wrote.
As long as the officers went in under that basis — and not to investigate a potential crime — they did nothing wrong, the judges determined. The officers “did not charge in and fan out throughout the apartment looking for a suspect or evidence of a crime,” they wrote. “They waited outside the doorway.
“Because the officer who observed defendant was lawfully on the premises, under the plain view doctrine, the police did not have to wait for judicial permission to question and eventually take [the] defendant into custody.”
Records show Bogan, now 31, was released from the Passaic County Jail in February of last year. What the ruling means for him and his future is immediately unclear.
(PHOTO: Courtesy of N.J. Department of Corrections)
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