LAPD officers fail to get their jobs back after ignoring a robbery to play Pokemon GO

Two former LAPD officers recently lost an appeal to regain their jobs after playing Pokemon GO while on duty.

The original incident took place in 2017, a year after the phone game's release. During this time, the phone app was at peak popularity. Although it’s still quite popular now, many people back then were out and about looking for their favorite creatures to catch at all times of day.

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Officers appeal decision to fire them after playing Pokemon GO during a robbery

Louis Lozano and Eric Mitchell were fired in 2017 for failing to respond to a robbery while playing Pokemon GO. They recently appealed the decision, but the court upheld the ruling.

The basis for the appeal was that video evidence from their digital in-car video system (DICVS) was used in the decision to fire Lozano and Mitchell, but they claimed this video evidence was illegal. This, they argued, violated their Public Safety Officers Procedural protections under the Bill of Rights.

The robbery occurred at a Macy’s at Krenshaw Mall in Los Angeles, California. Lozano and Mitchell were nearby, and video evidence showed that they heard a call from their captain to respond to the robbery.

After catching Snorlax, they looked for Togetic (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Both officers discussed helping out for a while, but ultimately they decided to continue to look for Pokemon.

They were on the search for Snorlax, a Normal-type from Generation I. One officer was successful in catching one, and they later continued to look for Togetic from Generation II.

Sgt. Jose Gomez, the supervisor for Mitchell and Lozano, had met with them later that night at a 7/11 to discuss why they didn’t respond to the call. The officers claimed that it was noisy at the park they were stationed at and that they didn’t hear the request for backup.

This is what caused Sgt. Gomez to view the video from their DICVS, which ultimately revealed that the officers left the alley that was close to the robbery to go continue searching for Snorlax.