Philly’s top cop apologizes for arrests
Softens stance on Starbucks incident
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia’s police commissioner apologized yesterday to two black men who were arrested at a Starbucks in the city while they were waiting for a business meeting.
Philadelphia police Commissioner Richard Ross, a black man who at first staunchly defended his officers’ handling of the incident, said his department did not actually have a policy for how to handle a similar call.
“I should have said the officers acted within the scope of the law and not that they didn’t do anything wrong,” Ross said. “Words are very important.”
At a news conference, a somber Ross said he “failed miserably” in addressing the arrests. He said that the issue of race is not lost on him and that he shouldn’t be the person making things worse. “Shame on me if, in any way, I’ve done that,” he said.
He also said the police department did not have a policy for dealing for such situations but does now, and it will be released soon.
Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson said they went to the Starbucks to meet Andrew Yaffe, a white local businessman, over a potential real estate opportunity. Three officers showed up not long after. Nelson said they weren’t questioned but were told to leave immediately.
Yaffe showed up as the men were being handcuffed and could be seen in the video demanding an explanation for the officers’ actions. Nelson and Robinson did not resist arrest.
“When you know that you did nothing wrong, how do you really react to it?” Nelson said. “You can either be ignorant or you can show some type of sophistication and act like you have class. That was the choice we had.”
Nelson and Robinson spent hours in a jail cell and were released after midnight, when the district attorney declined to prosecute them.
Starbucks has said the coffee shop where the arrests occurred has a policy that restrooms are for paying customers only, but the company has no overall policy. The men’s attorney, Stewart Cohen, said they were illegally profiled.
The arrests prompted protests at the Starbucks and a national boycott. Kevin Johnson, CEO of the Seattle-based company, came to Philadelphia to meet with the men, called the arrests “reprehensible” and ordered more than 8,000 Starbucks stores closed on the afternoon of May 29 so that nearly 175,000 employees can receive training on unconscious bias.
Robinson said that he appreciates the public support but that anger and boycotting Starbucks are not the solution.