Starbucks manager leaves company after calling police on two black men
The manager of a Philadelphia Starbucks who made headlines for calling the police on two black men has left the company.
A company spokeswoman told the Philadelphia Inquirer the manager left the job “while there is an internal review pending.”
A video filmed by another customer went viral, showing the police taking the two men away in handcuffs. The store manager called the police because the men had not ordered anything while waiting for a friend to meet them.
@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
The district attorney’s office said that there was no evidence of a crime and declined to file charges against the two men.
{mosads}Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson issued an apology and asked to meet with the men so he can apologize in person.
“I’d like to have a dialogue with them so that I can ensure that we have opportunity to really understand the situation and show some compassion and empathy for the experience they went through,” Johnson said Monday.
Johnson also pledged to implement “unconscious bias” training for store managers, calling the situation “reprehensible.”
The incident drew major backlash against the company, including local protests at the Starbucks in the video, where activists chanted “Starbucks coffee is anti-black” and demanded that the manager be fired.
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