Keyes

MEMORANDUM **

James R. Keyes filed this pro se civil rights action, alleging that law enforcement officers in Lincoln County, Washington violated his state and federal constitutional rights by conducting a warrantless search of his property after a census worker reported that Keyes ran her off the property with a gun. 1 The district court granted summary judgment, concluding as a matter of law that the search was not within the protected curtilage of Keyes’ home, and alternatively, that the officers had a right to be on Keyes’ property to investigate the incident.

We reject Keyes’ contention that disputed facts preclude summary judgment. There is no dispute that the officers, in response to the census worker’s report, entered Keyes’ property, knocked on his door, circled his house while calling out his name, and looked into his windows in their attempt to locate him. The issue is whether the officers, as a matter of law, conducted an unlawful search. We conclude they did not.

“Law enforcement officers may encroach upon the curtilage of a home for the purpose of asking questions of the occupants.” United States v. Hammett, 236 F.3d 1054, 1059 (9th Cir.2001). Moreover, officers…