One day, a Los Angeles police officer told his partner, "I got you a new Pokémon today, dude." It happened during their shift when they were supposed to respond to a radio call about a robbery in progress at a nearby mall. Instead, Louis Lozano and Eric Mitchell were caught playing Pokémon Go while on duty, and as a result, they were fired for misconduct.
Recently, a video was released through a public records request, showing the officers engrossed in hunting animated monsters and completely ignoring the real-life radio call on April 15, 2017.
The video played a crucial role in finding the officers guilty of multiple counts of misconduct. They appealed their dismissals, arguing that the video captured their confidential "private conversations." Their attorney claimed that the video had been accidentally activated.
Their legal challenge made its way to the California Court of Appeal. Court documents shed light on the busy Saturday when more calls were coming in than there were police cars available to respond. A radio call reported a "robbery in progress" with multiple suspects at Macy's in the Crenshaw Mall.
Lozano was heard saying, "Screw it," about checking in with communications regarding the call. Meanwhile, Mitchell informed Lozano about a "Snorlax" that had "just popped up" at "46th and Leimert." The video documented their Pokémon discussions as they drove to different locations where virtual creatures appeared on their cellphones.
Excitedly, Mitchell exclaimed, "Got 'em," when he seemingly caught the Snorlax. The officers then decided to "[g]o get the Togetic" and drove off. At one point, Mitchell urged, "Don't run away. Don't run away," while Lozano described how he "buried it and ultra-balled" the Togetic before proudly stating, "Got him." Mitchell shared his struggles with capturing the creature, saying, "Holy crap, man. This thing is fighting the crap out of me." Eventually, he exclaimed, "Finally," likely indicating his successful capture of the Togetic.
When questioned by a detective concerned about them playing a video game on duty, the officers denied it, claiming they were "merely having a conversation about Pokémon Go." They characterized their failure to respond to the ongoing robbery as an "error" or "lack" of judgment, insisting they stayed within their "assigned...foot beat area."
They also denied providing misleading information to the watch commander about why they hadn't heard the radio and denied playing Pokémon Go while on duty. They maintained they were monitoring a "Pokémon tracker" application on their phone but were not playing the game itself.
Regarding "catching" Pokémon, Lozano explained it as "capturing an image" of the Pokémon on the tracking application to share with friends. Mitchell clarified that his statements about "fighting" the Togetic meant "relaying that information to the groups on my app" and added that "occasionally, the creature will fight" while taking pictures.
They admitted to leaving their assigned area to search for the Snorlax but insisted they did so as part of an "extra patrol" and to "chase this mythical creature," according to the court documents.
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