You’ve probably gotten into a few amusing situations playing Pokemon GO, but I bet you haven’t accidentally helped catch a man wanted for attempted murder (not yet, anyway).
Police in Fullerton, California say two men exploring a park while playing the AR mobile game deserve the credit for the criminal’s arrest.
US Marines Seth Ortega and Javier Soch (above) were out trying to catch ’em all, when they spotted something very strange (and non Pokemon related).
Ortega told the police that he saw a man carrying a red plastic rose approach a woman and her three children, who quickly ran away.
Ortega and Soch then both witnessed the man in question approach another woman and her two kids, apparently touching one of the children on the leg.
Upon seeing this, the two Pokemon trainers/Marines ran over and subdued the man until the police arrived, who were called to the scene by the first mother.
The police initially arrested him for child annoyance, but they soon discovered he had an outstanding warrant in Sonoma, California for attempted murder – he’ll be extradited there to face that charge soon.
Pokemon GO has made a lot of people very wary of the dangers of losing yourself in a virtual world while exploring the real (and sometimes dangerous) world.
Not long after the game launched in America, police warned of armed robbers who were using it to lure players to one spot so that they could rob them – thankfully the police apprehended these criminals, and hopefully everyone is wise to that particular scheme now.
Still, if this story proves anything, it’s that Pokemon GO can do as much good as it can harm – however inadvertently that might be.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.