According to recently disclosed court documents, two officers with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) were dismissed for neglecting a robbery in process to play Pokemon Go.

The men, Louis Lozano and Eric Mitchell were unsuccessful in their appeal against “multiple counts of misconduct” which were partly based on a recording of them in the car.

The recording was got from the digital in-car video system (DICVS), which “captured (them) wilfully abdicating their duty to assist a commanding officer’s response to a robbery in progress and playing a Pokemon mobile phone game while on duty”.

The incident occurred on a “busy” Saturday in April 2017 when a report came in regarding a robbery with many suspects in process at a Macy’s department store, according to court documents revealed on Friday.

Instead of reacting to the call, Lozano and Mitchell were “tucked back in an alley just feet away” from the robbery, as a commanding officer observed them in a patrol vehicle.

Initially, the officers said they couldn’t hear the radio, but the commanding officer then studied the DICVS to “find out what they do on their average day”.

When the recording was reviewed, it was determined that they had heard the radio call and agreed to ignore the officers who responded to it instead of assisting them.

A few moments later, Lozano and Mitchell started conversing about Pokemon Go, and “for approximately the next 20 minutes, the DICVS captured [the officers] discussing Pokemon as they drove to different locations where the virtual creatures apparently appeared on their mobile phones”

Throughout this time, the men caught two rare Pokemon, a Snorlax, and a Togetic. However, it is unclear whether the robbery suspects were captured by their colleagues.

The DICVS captured Mitchell screaming “got ’em” after catching the Snorlax, followed by “don’t run away, don’t run away”, and also Lozano detailing how he “buried it and ultra-balled” the Togetic Pokemon.

“The guys are going to be so jealous, I got you a new Pokemon today, dude,” he said

The men’s appeal against their dismissal was denied, and they were discovered to have lied about missing the radio call for the heist in progress.

This is the most recent example of an augmented reality game potentially distracting individuals from their real-world responsibilities.