Two police officers from the Los Angeles Police Department were reportedly fired after ignoring an active robbery to catch Snorlax on Pokemon GO.
The story became public after court documents were filed to the government website of California on 7 January earlier this year.
It reads “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.”
According to the documents, the officer alerted his partner that Snorlax had just “popped up”, and they were seen on the DICVS discussing Pokemon for the next 20 minutes as they drove to the different locations where the Pokemon were on the phone.
While en route to where Snorlax was, the officer informed his partner that a Togetic had just “popped up”.
They were also recorded struggling while trying to catch the Pokemon.
The two (now former) police officers admitted to leaving their patrol location to hunt for Snorlax, with the LAPD firing them for playing the game during a robbery.
Incredible stuff. pic.twitter.com/Cwgcg4lUeF
— Jake White (@unioncounsel) January 10, 2022