The California Court of Appeals has rejected an appeal by two LAPD officers who were fired from their jobs in 2017 for playing Pokémon Go on duty and missing a call. The document with the judgment is published on the court's website.

According to the case file, police officers Louis Lozano and Eric Mitchell in April 2017 ignored a request for reinforcement from their colleagues. This is evidenced by the data from the video camera of their police car, writes the Los Angeles Times. The officers were near the scene of the robbery and the authorities tried to contact them by radio, but the police did not answer the call and left the area.

When asked why they did not answer the call, the police said that they were in a noisy place and did not hear the radio. The chief of Lozano and Mitchell, Jose Gomez, was skeptical about their explanation and checked the data from the video camera in the car - it turned out that the police had heard the request for reinforcements, but decided not to answer and preferred to leave the area. After that, an official investigation was opened.

According to the case file, an examination of the video footage revealed that Lozano and Mitchell discussed Pokémon Go, including how to capture Pokémon Snorlax, after they left the area. After that, the police began to travel to various places in the city, in which Pokémon allegedly appeared in order to catch them, the court decision says.

Investigators suggested the officers were playing Pokémon Go in the workplace and confronted. During it, Lozano and Mitchell pleaded guilty for not answering the call. According to them, they did launch the application at the workplace and left their "trail" to find Snorlax, but did not take active steps to catch him. In addition, Lozano and Mitchell said they did so as part of a "social media event" and "additional patrol," the case file says.

The disciplinary board, which examined the policemen's case in closed disciplinary hearings, unanimously decided to dismiss them. According to representatives of the collegium, the behavior of the police "undermined public confidence" and was unprofessional, and their testimony was "insincere and deceitful." In accordance with the recommendations, the police officers were fired, after which lawsuits followed from them, which they lost. On Friday, January 7, a California court dismissed their appeal.

bbabo.Net