Why catch a robber when you can catch your fourth Pikachu of the day? That’s the question two cops appeared to ask themselves after getting caught playing Pokémon GO while on the job back in 2017.


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Though Los Angeles Police Department Officers Louis Lozano and Eric Mitchell were ultimately fired in 2018 after a disciplinary panel decided the pair most definitely picked the video game over backing up their colleagues during a robbery, newly released footage of the incident shows just how engrossed the pair were in expanding their Pokédex.



“It’s gonna go pink and change into something else,” one of the officers said as they attempted to catch a Snorlax.


Though the officers ultimately lost out on the rare find despite running a stop sign and hurdling over speed bumps, they got a lot luckier in their following pursuit, successfully stalking a Togetic.


“Holy crap! Finally!” said one of the officers, noting that their colleagues were “going to be so jealous” of their score.


It’s still unclear why, exactly, the LAPD has decided to release the footage now, one thing is certain — “gotta catch ‘em all” doesn’t apply to local criminals.