(CNN) -
Two Los Angeles police officers lost an appeal and their jobs after a Pokémon GO game in April 2017.
Instead of responding to a close call, Louis Lozano and Eric Mitchell were caught searching for Pokémon characters through the Pokémon GO app, according to a ruling this month from a California appeals court.
That Saturday a radio call had been sent for "a 211 (robbery) in progress," according to the sentence.
Macy's in Crenshaw Plaza, located southwest of downtown Los Angeles, was being robbed by several suspects.
The ruling notes that Captain Darnell Davenport heard the call as he was on his way to the scene of a homicide.
From where he stood, he could see Macy's and another police car that was hidden in an alley.
Inside this squad car were Lozano and Mitchell.
Since Davenport didn't hear them answer the call, he answered it himself, but noticed the vehicle pulling away.
Sergeant José Gómez, supervisor of the patrol that day, realized that Lozano and Mitchell were nearby and asked for them to reinforce the robbery, but did not receive a response, the court ruling indicates.
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They arrest a young man who violated the quarantine for playing Pokémon Go in Argentina
Gomez later realized that the vehicle had answered another call at the same time that Davenport was responding to the theft.
This made him curious, so he questioned both of them.
They claimed that they did not hear a request for reinforcements about the robbery because they were in a park where there was a lot of noise.
In the court ruling, Agent Mitchell is quoted as saying there was "a lot of music" and there was "a lot of noise in the park."
Lozano was cited in the sentence, adding "We have no control over the system and all the loud noise was loud."
After not being entirely convinced, the next day Gómez decided to review the recording of the vehicle's digital video system.
The recordings revealed that, instead of answering the call, the two agents were playing the augmented reality game, Pokémon GO, for 20 minutes, according to the sentence.
The app was launched in 2016 and quickly became popular in the United States.
Using GPS, users have to locate and collect virtual characters.
In the sentence, Lozano is quoted saying: "To the devil", when debating whether they should answer the call.
Nearby, a "Snorlax", one of the Pokémon characters, was spotted, so the men focused on capturing it.
The sentencing evidence indicates that Mitchell caught the creature and exclaimed "I've got them."
Another character named "Togetic" appeared, and the two of them set out to capture him as well.
Mitchell was quoted as saying "Don't run away, don't run away."
Mitchell also said, "Shit. This thing is fighting me" and "the guys will be so jealous."
When questioned, the officers claimed that they were discussing Pokémon and were not playing.
The officers were fired in 2018 after they were found to have committed misconduct and violated the public trust, according to the injunction presented by the men's attorney, Greg G. Yacoubian.
The men appealed and argued that the recordings were misused as evidence, but this was denied by a Superior Court.
And the appeals court confirmed the position on Friday, the ruling notes.
Lozano and Mitchell are disappointed with the decision, Yacoubian told CNN.
"The end does not justify the means," Yacoubian said, "we are evaluating the best way to proceed."
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