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A video that's now amassed almost 7 million views 

 depicts police officers handcuffing two black men in a Philadelphia Starbucks. 


Onlookers in the background are incredulous.

"They didn't do anything," a woman responds. "I saw the entire thing."

 from the Philadelphia Police Department's page, Commissioner Richard Ross confirmed that on Thursday afternoon at 4:40 p.m., Philadelphia police received a 911 call from the Starbucks at 18th and Spruce Streets alleging disturbance and trespassing. 


When police arrived, two Starbucks employees told them two men had asked to use the restroom but were told they couldn't because they hadn't purchased anything. The men allegedly refused to leave after being asked by Starbucks employees. Ross also said the two men refused to leave after being asked three times by police officers. 


So, Ross says, officers arrested the men. The attorney for the two men, Lauren Wimmer, told the 

she received word that the two were being released from custody at 12:30 a.m. Friday, nearly eight hours after the initial 911 call. Ross confirmed that the officers released the men from custody after they discovered Starbucks was not planning to prosecute them. 


In his statement, Ross said he believed the officers "did absolutely nothing wrong." He continued: 

Ross said all commanders in his department receive implicit bias training, and all new recruits are sent to both the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. "We want them to know about the atrocities that were, in fact, committed by policing around the world," he says.

 that the Philadelphia Police Department's internal affairs unit is looking into the incident.  
In a statement released Saturday, Philadelphia's mayor Jim Kenney 


The mayor's statement says Starbucks' apology, which the company 

 earlier Saturday, was not enough. Kenney also says he has asked the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations to look into whether additional implicit bias training should be required of Starbucks employees, and his office has reached out to Starbucks directly to discuss the matter.


Mayor Kenney's statement referenced ongoing discussions about criminal justice, policing and incarceration in Philadelphia:


The reforms Kenney alludes to have a lot to do with the city's new progressive District Attorney Lawrence Krasner. WHYY's Bobby Allyn 

 on the change Krasner is pushing for in Philadelphia:



On Sunday, one day after Kenney criticized Starbucks' Twitter apology, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson released

 of his own, saying that he will be soon joining other executives already in Philadelphia to speak with those involved in the incident. "I hope to meet personally with the two men who were arrested to offer a face-to-face apology," his statement reads. 
The executive added that the company has begun an investigation into its practices, and will "further train" its staff to "better know when police assistance is warranted."   Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Crime, Law and Justice

Jenny Gathright

Author

A viral video depicts police officers handcuffing two men in a Philadelphia Starbucks. Mayor Jim Kenney says the incident "appears to exemplify what racial discrimination looks like in 2018."

Starbucks, police and mayor respond to controversial arrest of 2 black men in Philly

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