York chopper hovers over erratic driver, turns out he's playing Pokemon Go

Don't catch and drive.

A driver trailed by the York police chopper for seemingly behaving "erratically"was trying to catch 'em all behind the wheel, police said.

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Aerial footage captured the Pokemon Go catching spree in the wee hours of Monday morning.

York police say its chopper hovered over a Mercedes "driving suspiciously" in the Keele Street and Teston Road area of Vaughan shortly after 3:20 a.m.

The chopper continued to track the driver, who stopped in a parking lot near Keele Street, then in front of a park in a residential neighbourhood. Police say the driver then made "suspicious turns" in the middle of the roadway before being pulled over by police.

He was given a "stern warning" on the dangers of distracted driving.

Asked why a charge was not laid, police saidit is up to the discretion of the responding officer to decide.

"You have to have sufficient evidence to lay that charge and usually that involves actually being seen with the phone in your hand," Const.Laura Nicolle said.

She acknowledged the aerial video that shows the erratic drivingbut said the "officer may have just determined that at that point hedidn'thave the evidence to actually [lay a]charge.

"We hope peopleunderstand that they can't drive with their cellphones but in some cases,a situation just warrants a further conversation about it or warning and that's up to the officers as they see fit based on the situation."

Nicolle said the situation could have beendifferent had it happened at a busier time of day.

"There wereno other carsaround, fortunately,and no people but had there been a bigger safety risk, that changes things, too, in terms of charges."

Nicolle said York police released the video to demonstrate "how bad the driving can be."

"We still felt it was worth putting this out just as an education piece.That particular person was fortunate that they got a warning and hopefully, learned from that."

In an update to the augmented reality game released Monday, the app delivers a warning to gamers not to play and drive.