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Pokémon Go (symbol picture): The augmented reality game shows Pokémon elements such as Pokéballs in real surroundings on the mobile phone screen
Photo: SAM MIRCOVICH / REUTERS
Two American police officers have been fired for preferring to hunt Pokémon rather than responding to a robbery.
An appeals court in the US state of California has now upheld her release after the two men had appealed.
According to the court documents, the two men ignored a call for help from a department store in April 2017 to instead use their cell phones to catch the fantasy creatures in the game Pokémon Go.
Pokémon Go was released in 2016 and caused worldwide hype.
Players can use their smartphones to hunt in the real world for the Pokémon that appear in different locations on a map.
Recordings of the conversations in the company car showed how a police officer informed the other shortly after being alerted about the robbery that a rare "Relaxo" Pokémon had appeared on his screen.
The two then decided to go to the spot to catch the fantasy creature.
For the next 20 minutes, the police reportedly discussed Pokémon while visiting various locations where new virtual creatures kept popping up.
While they were able to successfully capture the "Relaxo", a "Togetic" was apparently more difficult to control.
The documents read of a police officer swearing expressively while fighting the Pokémon on his cell phone.
Following the incident, both men were charged with multiple misconduct.
They admitted they did not respond to the robbery call.
But they denied having played Pokémon Go.
In the disciplinary hearings, the two insisted that they were only discussing the game and challenged the Los Angeles City Council's dismissal.
Among other things, they also stated that the video recordings from their car should not have been used against them.
The California Court of Appeals, however, did not follow their reasoning and has now confirmed their dismissals.
aar / AFP