Two LAPD cops who ignored calls to attend a robbery at a nearby Macy's to play Pokemon have failed in their bid to have their firing reversed.
California's court of appeals ruled Tuesday that Louis Lozano and Eric Mitchell were rightfully terminated in 2017 after refusing to go to the scene of a robbery at the Crenshaw mall, with Lozano responding: 'Aw, screw it.'
Instead, the cops decided to hunt down a 'Snorlax' character that had appeared nearby on Pokemon Go, which lets players 'capture' virtual reality characters who pop up on a phone map of nearby locations. Players must then rush to that location in real life in order to 'capture' them.
Different Pokemon are assigned different numbers of points, with rarer characters helping players bag far higher totals.
The pair insisted that they were not actually playing the game at the time, but on Friday a court denied their appeal, thanks to incriminating audio of the incident.
A Macy's store in Crenshaw, Los Angeles, was being robbed on April 15, 2017. Louis Lozano and Eric Mitchell were nearby, but refused to respond because they were playing Pokemon Go
'A board of rights found petitioners guilty on multiple counts of misconduct, based in part on a digital in-car video system (DICVS) recording that captured petitioners 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,' the court ruled.
Lozano and Mitchell were on foot patrol on April 15, 2017 in the Crenshaw neighborhood, in what their supervisors termed a busy Saturday.
Calls began coming in about a robbery at a Macy's, with multiple suspects, and Lozano and Mitchell were asked to drive to the area and join the response, but failed to reply.
Pokemon Go, pictured, involved catching virtual characters by traveling to real locations with your phone
Sergeant Jose Gomez, their patrol supervisor, asked the pair later that day why they failed to respond, and they said that they hadn't heard the calls.
But Gomez, still suspicious, checked their DICVS.
He found that the pair heard the calls, and discussed whether or not to attend.
Lozano asked if they should 'ask [communications] if there's a message.'
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.'
They then realized that the pair were discussing Pokemon while on shift.
Five minutes after Lozano said 'screw it', at 6.09pm, Mitchell could be heard telling Lozano that the Pokemon character Snorlax had 'just popped up' at '46th and Leimert.'
Snorlax, one of the Pokemon Go characters, was spotted by the two officers - leading them to try and hunt the character down
They then discussed the best route to the scene, with Lozano saying: 'Oh, you [know] what I can do? I'll [go] down 11th and swing up on Crenshaw. I know that way I can get to it.'
Mitchell suggested a different route, then told Lozano: 'We got four minutes.'
For approximately the next 20 minutes, the DICVS recorded the pair discussing different locations, where the the Pokemon character appeared on their mobile phones.
On their way to the Snorlax location, Mitchell told Lozano that 'a Togetic just popped up.'
At the time, Togetic was one of the most difficult Pokemon to catch in the game, according to Polygon.
Their conversation continued as they tried to capture the characters, with Mitchell apparently catching the Snorlax, and yelling: 'Got 'em!'
Trying to get the Togetic, Mitchell can be heard saying: 'Don't run away. Don't run away!'
Lozano said he captured the virtual creature, while Mitchell said he was '[s]till trying to catch it,' adding: 'Holy crap, man. This thing is fighting the crap out of me.'
He added: 'The guys are going to be so jealous.'
On the way, to meet Gomez, and explain why they failed to respond to the robbery, Mitchell said: 'I got you a new Pokemon today, dude.'
A Pokemon character is seen in a park, on the player's mobile phone
The officers were charged with six counts of on-duty misconduct, including failing to respond to a robbery-in-progress call, playing Pokemon Go while on patrol, and making false statements to during the investigation.
They argued that the recordings were private, and could not be used against them.
But the board of rights, which approved their firing, called the officers' conduct 'unprofessional and embarrassing behavior,' saying that it 'violated the trust of the public' and 'reflected poorly' on the department.
Greg Yacoubian, an attorney for the officers, said on Monday they 'obviously are disappointed' in the ruling and were 'considering how to proceed.'
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