In an accusation that makes Chief Wiggum and the Springfield police look like Scotland Yard in comparison, two LAPD officers were recently terminated for neglecting to protect and serve so they could play a game of Pokémon Go.
It was April 15, 2017. We were so young. So innocent.
Jabba the Hut had recently been inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States. Earth’s united citizens were embracing ice bucket challenges and creating distracted boyfriend memes as the strains of “Despacito” and “Bad & Boujee” reverberated throughout their brainstems. Toilet paper and emergency room beds were ample.
That’s when two cops from the Southwest Division, Louis Lozano and Eric Mitchell, were supposed to be out on a foot beat patrol. Calls were many that day and there had already been one homicide when a radio call went out for a robbery going down at the Macy’s at the Crenshaw Mall.
Commanding officer Captain Darnell Davenport was en route to the scene of the homicide when he heard it, according to a recently released legal brief. With the Macy’s in view, Davenport could also see an idling police car in a nearby alley. Assuming it was not taking the call because it was from a different division or traffic patrol, he responded to the robbery call while watching the car take off and leave the scene.