Videos posted online show officers handcuffing the men in the downtown establishment Thursday.
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia’s police commissioner is defending his officers’ decision to arrest two black men at a Starbucks that prompted social media users to call the incident “racist.”
Videos posted online show officers handcuffing the men in the downtown establishment Thursday.
Commissioner Richard Ross said Starbucks employees called police to say the men were trespassing. He said they came in to use the restroom but were denied because they hadn’t bought anything.
@Starbucks The police were called because these men hadn’t ordered anything. They were waiting for a friend to show up, who did as they were taken out in handcuffs for doing nothing. All the other white ppl are wondering why it’s never happened to us when we do the same thing. pic.twitter.com/0U4Pzs55Ci
— Melissa DePino (@missydepino) April 12,2018
Ross, who is black, said police asked the men to leave three times but they refused. They were arrested and released. Ross said his officers “did absolutely nothing wrong.”
There was no mention of the white man in the video who said he was meeting with the men. He called the arrest “ridiculous” on video.
Starbucks tweeted an apology Saturday.
We apologize to the two individuals and our customers for what took place at our Philadelphia store on Thursday. https://t.co/suUsytXHks — Starbucks Coffee (@Starbucks) April 14,2018
