LOS ANGELES (KNX) – Two police officers in Los Angeles were fired after they ignored a robbery in progress to play Pokémon Go, according to new details of the April 17, 2017 incident shared by the Los Angeles Police Department.
Pokémon Go was a mobile game in which users could explore real locations and search far and wide for Pokémon,” according to the official Pokémon website.
According to the court opinion, LAPD’s Sergeant Jose Gomez, who was the patrol supervisor, had asked officers Louis Lozano and Eric Mitchell if they heard a call for backup from another officer who responded to a robbery at the Crenshaw Mall Macy’s.
Lozano said he heard that the officer was responding to the robbery but did not hear him ask for backup. The two officers went on to say they were at Leimert Park and that the loud noises from the park made it hard to hear anything.
The digital in-car video system revealed not only were the two officers parked in the alley close to the mall, but that they ignored the robbery.
The court documents said Mitchell responded to the first ‘Code 6’ call, but that Lozano told Mitchell to “put them at the corridor,” adding, “I don’t want to be (the responding officer’s) help.” The officers then drove away.
Both officers said they didn’t respond because the responding officer “did not request backup and because they were instructed to stay in their assigned area of the Crenshaw Corridor.” However, their commander said he did not give the officers that instruction.
During a second investigation it was revealed that the two officers chose to play Pokémon Go rather than respond to the robbery. The officers drove away to catch a “Snorlax” that was on “46th and Leimert and proceeded to drive to different locations where the virtual creatures appeared on the officer’s phones.
When questioned about the game, the officers said they were just talking about it and weren’t actually playing it.
Both were charged with “failing to respond to a robbery-in-progress call, making misleading statements to Sergeant Gomez when asked why they did not hear the radio, failing to respond over the radio when their unit was called, failing to handle an assigned radio call, playing Pokémon Go while on patrol in their police vehicle and making false statements to Detective McClanahan during a complaint investigation.”
The officers pleaded guilty to “failing to respond to a robbery-in-progress” and “failing to respond over the radio when their unit was called.” They pled not guilty to the other charges.
Both officers were fired and filed an appeal, claiming their privacy was violated by the LAPD. They lost their appeal.
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