To make an arrest, a private person, if the offense is a felony, and in all cases a peace officer, may break open the door or window of the house in which the person to be arrested is, or in which they have reasonable grounds for believing the person to be, after having demanded admittance and explained the purpose for which admittance is desired.
Cal. Penal Code § 844
Arrest, by Whom and How Made
Applied in 11 court decisions — leading case People v. Olguin (2008)
Most recently applied in People v. Olguin (December 2008)
Amended by Stats. 1989, Ch. 1360, Sec. 112.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: California Legislative Information. Reproduced from public-domain California statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.