Cop who can catch criminals AND Pokemon without getting fired.
Two LAPD officers have been fired after an investigation found they failed to respond to an armed robbery call while they were playing mobile game Pokemon Go in 2017, Kotaku reports. Pokemon Go is an augmented reality mobile phone game requiring players to physically be at a location in the real world to catch the fictional animals so you can use them to fight against other players’ fictional animals. Kind of like Michael Vick, except virtual. On the day in question, cops Louis Lozano and Eric Mitchell, were looking for a “Snorlax”, the elusive, fat lazy Pokemon and a “Togetic” – some kind of magic flying uh, thing – when they ignored a call about an armed robbery at a nearby Macy’s.
Per the petition Lozano and Mitchell filed to appeal their firing: “For approximately the next 20 minutes, the [dash cam] captured petitioners discussing Pokémon as they drove to different locations where the virtual creatures apparently appeared on their mobile phones. On their way to the Snorlax location, Officer Mitchell alerted Officer Lozano that ‘a Togetic just popped up,’ noting it was ‘[o]n Crenshaw, just South of 50th.’ After Mitchell apparently caught the Snorlax – exclaiming, ‘Got ’em’ – petitioners agreed to ‘[g]o get the Togetic’ and drove off. When their car stopped again, the [dash cam] recorded Mitchell saying, ‘Don’t run away. Don’t run away,’ while Lozano described how he ‘buried it and ultra-balled’ the Togetic before announcing, ‘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.’ Eventually Mitchell exclaimed, ‘Holy Crap. Finally,’ apparently in reference to capturing the Togetic, and he remarked, ‘The[ ] guys are going to be so jealous.’ Petitioners then agreed to return to the 7-Eleven (where Sergeant Gomez later met them) to end their watch. On the way, Mitchell remarked, ‘I got you a new Pokémon today, dude.'” Freaking nerds.