A local appeals court upheld a 2017 decision to fire two former LAPD officers who neglected their duties in order to play Pokémon Go. Officers Louis Lozano and Eric Mitchell reportedly ignored a call for backup from a nearby robbery April 5, 2017. The officers decided to hunt Pokémon instead.

After almost half an hour, the two officers met Sgt. Jose Gomez at a 7-11, where he asked them why they had not responded to the call. They reportedly told him that they were so busy responding to another call, they must have not heard it. Gomez, suspicious, then decided to review their dash-cam footage.

“I don’t want to be his help,” said Lozano after receiving the robbery call, “screw it.”

The car’s dash-cam shows the two men hunting for and discussing Pokémon for around 20 minutes. First, pursuing a Snorlax, which is, according to ScreenRant, a “fan favorite” in Pokémon Go. However, whilst in hot pursuit, Mitchell discovered another creature nearby, a Togetic. They took a minor detour to capture this Pokémon before continuing the pursuit of the Snorlax. 

Lozano and Mitchell argued that the city violated the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act by using their dash-cam footage as evidence, according to NPR. They were denied reinstatement January 7, 2022 by a California court of appeals.