When Police Are Called To A House
S.C. Code 16-25-70 — an arrest without a warrant, the primary aggressor, and no threat to arrest everyone
Without a warrant. An officer may arrest, with or without a warrant, at the person's home or elsewhere, if the officer has probable cause to believe the person is committing or has freshly committed domestic violence, even if it did not happen in the officer's presence. To make that arrest, the officer may enter the home where there is probable cause to believe it is reasonably necessary to prevent physical harm or danger to a family or household member.
- Prior complaints of domestic or family violence.
- The relative severity of each person's injuries, including injuries that may not be easily visible yet.
- The likelihood of future injury to each person.
- Whether one of them acted in self defense.
- Household members' accounts of the history of domestic violence.
Those are the factors an officer considers when two or more household members make conflicting complaints. The officer evaluates each separately to decide who was the primary physical aggressor, and having decided, must not arrest the other person. An officer must not threaten, suggest or otherwise indicate that everyone may be arrested to discourage a request for help.
Domestic violence is causing physical harm or injury to one's own household member, or offering or attempting to with apparent present ability under circumstances reasonably creating fear of imminent peril. The first degree is a felony carrying up to ten years, where great bodily injury results, a firearm is used, or other aggravating circumstances the section lists are present.
The Fourth Amendment draws its firmest line at the entrance to a home, and the Supreme Court of the United States has held where it falls in situations police meet at a door. Absent consent or exigent circumstances, officers may not enter a home without a warrant to make a routine felony arrest. Where one occupant consents to a search of a shared home and another who is physically present expressly refuses, the search is unreasonable as to the one who refused. And officers may enter without a warrant when they have an objectively reasonable basis for believing someone inside is seriously injured or imminently threatened with such injury. Those holdings are a floor: a state's own constitution and statutes can give more protection than they do, never less.
An agency must complete an investigation of an alleged violation even if it was not told at the time, and document it on an incident report. Protection orders, bond and the lower degrees are set out in the sections. Whether a particular arrest or entry was lawful is a question for a licensed South Carolina attorney.
Sources for this section (5)
- S.C. Code 16-25-70 — Warrantless arrest or search; admissibility of evidence
- S.C. Code 16-25-20 — Domestic violence; acts prohibited; penalties
- Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573 (1980) — Warrantless entry into a home to make a routine arrest is barred
- Georgia v. Randolph, 547 U.S. 103 (2006) — A present occupant's refusal defeats another occupant's consent
- Brigham City v. Stuart, 547 U.S. 398 (2006) — Police may enter to render emergency aid
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed South Carolina attorney.