Two Los Angeles cops fired for failing to respond to a robbery in progress because they were too busy trying to catch ’em all were denied an appeal by an LA County court.
Former officers Louis Lozano and Eric Mitchell were caught on a digital in-car video system (DICVS) searching for a Snorlax in Pokémon Go instead of providing backup at a nearby mall robbery.
A board of rights found the officers “guilty on multiple counts of misconduct,” based on the DICVS recording that captured them “willfully abdicating their duty to assist a commanding officer’s response to a robbery in progress and playing a Pokémon mobile phone game while on duty,” according to the California Court of Appeal ruling.
Lozano and Mitchell appealed their dismissal, claiming the city “proceeded in a manner contrary to the law by using the DICVS recording in their disciplinary proceeding and by denying them the protections of the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act,” the Friday ruling said. A trial court initially denied their petition, while a three-judge appeals panel last week unanimously upheld the decision.
The pair claim they did not hear the call for backup despite multiple attempts at communication. “After communications made a second attempt to contact petitioners, Officer Lozano asked if they should ‘ask [communications] if there’s a message,'” the 32-page ruling said. “Officer Mitchell replied, ‘It’s up to you. Whatever you think. I don’t want them to think we’re not paying attention to the radio.’ Lozano responded, ‘Aw, screw it.’ Petitioners made no attempt to respond over the radio when their unit was called.”
Five minutes later, Mitchell alerted Lozano that a Snorlax “just popped up” at “46th and Leimert”; they spent the next 20 minutes discussing Pokémon while driving to different locations to catch the virtual creatures for the augmented reality mobile game. When questioned, the officers denied they were playing a video game, instead claiming they were merely “having a conversation” about the popular title and were monitoring and taking screenshots of a tracking app to share with friends.
The LAPD charged Lozano and Mitchell with multiple counts of on-duty misconduct, including failing to respond to a robbery-in-progress call; making misleading statements; failing to respond over the radio; failing to handle an assigned radio call; playing Pokemon Go while on patrol in their police vehicle; and making false statements. The petitioners pleaded “guilty” to the first and third counts, and “not guilty” to the rest.
