Video shows officers playing Pokémon go instead of responding to a radio call of a robbery in Los Angeles in 2017 (screengrab via KXTV; inset screenshot of officers from patrol car video screenshot via city of Los Angeles)
“I got you a new Pokémon today, dude.”
That was what one Los Angeles police officer said to his partner at the end of their watch the day the duo was supposed to respond to a radio call for a robbery in progress at a nearby mall.
Instead, Louis Lozano and Eric Mitchell were playing Pokémon Go on duty. They were subsequently fired for misconduct.
New video released through a public records request captures the officers hunting animated monsters and ignoring the real-life radio call on April 15, 2017.
The officers were found guilty on multiple counts of misconduct, based partly on the video. The officers appealed their firings, unsuccessfully arguing the video was improper because it captured their purported confidential “private conversations.” Their attorney said the video had been inadvertently activated.
“Obviously, Lou and Eric are disappointed with the result,” their lawyer, Gregory Yacoubian, told Law&Crime in an email.
The officers’ legal challenge went to the California Court of Appeal. Court documents outline the case that busy Saturday when there were more calls than police cars available to respond.
A radio call for “a 211 [robbery] in progress” went out with multiple suspects at the Macy’s in the Crenshaw Mall.
“Screw it,” Lozano said about checking in with communications about the call.
A “Snorlax” “just popped up” at “46th and Leimert,” Mitchell told Lozano.
The video captures the officers talking about Pokémon as they drive to different locations where the virtual creatures appear on their cellphones.
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“Got ’em,” Mitchell said when he apparently caught the Snorlax.
Then the officers agreed to “[g]o get the Togetic” and drive off.
At one point, Mitchell said, “Don’t run away. Don’t run away,” while Lozano described how he “buried it and ultra-balled” the Togetic before saying, “Got him.”
Mitchell advised he was “[s]till trying to catch it,” adding, “Holy crap, man. This thing is fighting the crap out of me.”
“Finally,” he said, apparently about capturing the Togetic.
When questioned by a detective inquiring about her concern that they were playing a video game on duty, the officers denied it, claiming they were “merely having a conversation about Pokémon Go.”
Lozano and Mitchell characterized their failure to respond to the robbery in progress and the captain as an “error” or “lack” of judgment, court documents said. They insisted they did not respond to the call because they believed they needed to remain within the boundaries of their “assigned … foot beat area.”
They also denied making misleading statements to the watch commander about why they had not heard the radio and denied playing Pokémon Go while on duty.
They claimed they were monitoring a “Pokémon tracker” application on their phone but not playing the game itself.
As for “catching” Pokémon, Lozano insisted this referred to “capturing [an] image” of the Pokémon on the tracking application to share with friends, while Mitchell said his statements about “fighting” the Togetic referred to “relaying that information to the groups on my app,” adding that, “in order to take the picture, occasionally, the creature will fight.”
They admitted to leaving their foot beat area in search of the Snorlax, “but they insisted they did so ‘both’ as part of an ‘extra patrol’ and to ‘chase this mythical creature,”” the document said.
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