Two US police officers have been fired for preferring to hunt Pokemon than responding to a robbery. An appeals court in California upheld her release after the two officers challenged her.
According to court documents, the two men ignored a call for help from a department store in April 2017 to instead use their cell phones to catch the fantasy creatures in the game Pokemon Go.
Pokemon Go was released in 2016 and caused a worldwide hype. Players can use their smartphone to hunt in the real world for the Pokémon that appear in different locations on a map. In addition, the players can have the Pokemon compete against each other in competitions.
They were able to catch «Relaxo», but «Togetic» took off
Recordings of conversations in the police car showed one officer informing the other shortly after being alerted about the robbery that a rare “Snorlax” Pokemon had appeared on his screen.
The two then decided to go to the spot to catch the fantasy creature. For the next 20 minutes, officials apparently discussed Pokemon while visiting various locations where new virtual creatures kept popping up.
While they were able to successfully capture the «Relaxo», a «Togetic» was apparently more difficult to control. The documents show an officer swearing expressively while fighting the Pokemon on his cell phone.
Just talked about the game
Following the incident, both men were charged with multiple misconduct. They admitted not responding to the robbery call but denied playing Pokemon Go.
In the disciplinary hearings, the two insisted that they were only discussing the game and challenged the Los Angeles City Council’s dismissal. However, the California appeals court disbelieved their statements and upheld their dismissals. (SDA)