Five Seconds, Ten, Fifteen, Twenty... Here comes the battering ram:

Police officers executing a search warrant do not violate constitutional rights by waiting only 15 to 20 seconds after knocking and announcing their presence before using force to enter a suspect's residence, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday.

The case stemmed from an incident in the middle of the afternoon on July 15, 1998, when officers from the Las Vegas Police Department and the FBI executed a warrant at the apartment of LaShawn Lowell Banks.

The officers knocked on the front door, announced a "police search warrant" and waited 15 or 20 seconds. Hearing no response, they used a battering ram on the front door to enter the small apartment.

Banks said he did not hear the officers knock and announce their presence because he was in the shower. The officers found him standing by the bathroom, having just come out of the shower.