Two Officers Were Fired From The LAPD For Ignoring A Robbery To Chase A Snorlax In Pokemon Go - "I Just Wanted To Chase This Mystical Creature"
I'm not gonna have any opinions here, I know it's kind of a sensitive topic. Like I would never stay this story is "funny" per se. It's possible the person who got their shit stolen at Macys and watched the guy get away because the officers ignored it to apprehend Snorlax doesn't think it's too funny. I mean he'd have to have a pretty shitty sense of humor but still. It's possible. Could have been valuable. (More valuable than a Snorlax?)
Same goes for when I read two grown men trying to get their jobs back after being fired looked into the eyes of a judge presiding over their hearing and said "we just wanted to chase this mythical creature." Maybe that's fucking hilarious, maybe it's not. Who's to say.
I'm just here to present the facts:
VICE - Two Los Angeles police officers were fired for ignoring a robbery in progress and instead trying to catch a Snorlax in Pokémon Go, according to court documents published Friday.
According to the officers’ appeal, former LAPD officers Louis Lozano and Eric Mitchell were fired for “willfully abdicating their duty to assist a commanding officer’s response to a robbery in progress and playing a Pokémon mobile game while on duty.”
They denied the accusations. Where they ran into trouble with that denial though, is when there was an audio recording and a video recording of the entire thing.
A later investigation of video and audio evidence showed that Mitchell and Lozano discussed responding to the robbery but decided not to. Moments later, Mitchell and Lozano were recorded saying that a “Snorlax … just popped up .. at 46th and Leimert,” and the two strategized how to best catch the rare, gigantic Pokémon.
“For approximately the next 20 minutes, [the in-car monitoring system] captured [Mitchell and Lozano] discussing Pokémon as they drove to different locations where the virtual creatures apparently appeared on their mobile phones,” the court documents say.
Here's some of the transcript:
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 DICVS 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 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."
Also, some context:
For those of you who have had sex and aren't too familiar with the world of Pokémon, I went ahead and did the research. According to "Bulbagarden," which seems to be the authority on Pokémon information (it was the first result on Google), these are the two characters captured by Officers Mitchell and Lozano:
Snorlax:
Snorlax is a huge, dark blue-green Pokémon . Its body is composed of mostly its belly. Snorlax's bulk makes it the heaviest Normal type.
It wakes up only to eat, requiring 900 lbs. (400 kg) of food per day before returning to its slumber.
It is not a picky eater, as its strong stomach allows it to eat even moldy food without feeling any ill effects. It can also eat while it is resting.
Snorlax is docile enough to let children and small Pokémon bounce on its large stomach.
Snorlax can show awesome power when prompted. But it almost never moves; even when in battle it only slightly lifts its body and attacks by flailing with its arms and legs.
So basically Big Cat.
Togetic:
Togetic is a dainty, bipedal Pokémon that is small in stature. It is white with a red and blue triangular ring pattern on its body. It also has a relatively long neck and long legs and a pair of wings on its back, giving it a vaguely angelic appearance.
As for special power: Togetic can sense the kindness in other people and Pokémon's hearts.
In the officer's defense, these two fuckers are apparently pretty hard to catch. And my limited understanding of the game rules is, you got to catch them. You got to catch them all.
So as a competitor, I can certainly feel for these guys; they wanted to beat all the little shitheads in their group chat, and when the opportunity came up, they jumped at it. 10-year-olds can be really mean.
But as a citizen who might be robbed at some point and really, really want someone to show up instead of hunting down an imaginary cartoon dinosaur, I gotta say, I like the example set here.
Though they were recorded explaining the entirety of this encounter, as is common with police, both Mitchell and Lozano lied about what happened, according to the court records. Both of them claimed they were merely catching “images” of Pokémon, not playing a “game.” They also claimed that Pokémon Go is not a “game” but was more of a “social media event” that was not “advertised as a game,” the court records say. Eventually, both admitted to going after the Snorlax because they wanted to “chase this mythical creature.”
Anyways, both of the former officers were fired, appealed the decision by claiming that the LAPD violated their privacy by listening to their conversation, and lost their appeal Friday.
PS
I gotta say, I fucking love how this site has Pokémon featured on it like drafts picks. Feel like looking at it should come with a background track of Mel Kiper gushing about their intangibles and Greenie telling us Tyranitar had to step over the dead bodies of his drug addicted grandparents on his way to high school practice.
Though they were recorded explaining the entirety of this encounter, as is common with police, both Mitchell and Lozano lied about what happened, according to the court records. Both of them claimed they were merely catching “images” of Pokémon, not playing a “game.” They also claimed that Pokémon Go is not a “game” but was more of a “social media event” that was not “advertised as a game,” the court records say. Eventually, both admitted to going after the Snorlax because they wanted to “chase this mythical creature.”
Anyways, both of the former officers were fired, appealed the decision by claiming that the LAPD violated their privacy by listening to their conversation, and lost their appeal Friday.