Starbucks apologizes after two black customers arrested

A video posted on Twitter shows the two black men being led away by officers, while their white friend repeatedly asks why they’ve been arrested

Starbucks apologizes after two black customers arrested

Global coffee chain Starbucks has been forced to apologize after two black men were arrested whilst waiting in on their outlets.

A video posted on Twitter shows the two black men being led away by officers, while their white friend repeatedly asks why they’ve been arrested.

Melissa DePino, who posted the footage online, said: “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 people are wondering why it’s never happened to us when we do the same thing [sic].”

Starbucks have since apologized, issuing a statement reading: “We apologize to the two individuals and our customers and are disappointed this led to an arrest. We take these matters seriously and clearly have more work to do when it comes to how we handle incidents in our stores.

“We are reviewing our policies and will continue to engage with the community and the police department to try to ensure these types of situations never happen in any of our stores.”

However, Police Commissioner Richard Ross insisted that his officers "did absolutely nothing wrong" – insisting they were called to deal with a report of trespassing and disturbance.

 

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