Police Release 911 Call From Starbucks Incident

PHILADELPHIA – Philadelphia police released audio of the 911 call and police radio communications from the Thursday, April 12 incident at the Rittenhouse Starbucks where two black men were arrested after being accused of trespassing.

Police released the audio Tuesday, April 17.

"Hi, I have two gentlemen in my cafe that are refusing to make a purchase or leave," the manager says to 911 dispatchers in the call. "I'm at the Starbucks at 18th and Spruce."

"Alright police will be over as soon as possible," the dispatcher responds.

From there, police communications take over the audio, some of it unintelligible.

Police can be heard saying there was a "group of males causing a disturbance" in the store.

After more chatter that is difficult to decipher, police can be heard saying they had two men in custody and were heading to police headquarters.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner said in a video statement following the incident that the arrest was within the bounds of the law but that the officer did not want to make the arrest.

The men were ultimately not charged as Starbucks did not want to press charged and nearly the entire incident was caught on camera by Starbucks customers.

The footage triggered protests and calls for the manager's firing. That manager later quit her job at the store.

The company's CEO Kevin Johnson issued an apology statement, calling the outcome "reprehensible."

He eventually met with the two men in Philadelphia but declined not to comment on the meeting's discussion, 6ABC reports.

Starbucks announced it will be closing all of its US-based company-owned stores, (that's more than 8,000) on May 29 for a racial-bias training.

The men said they were waiting for a friend before making a purchase at the store. That friend showed up as the men were taken away in custody.

Watch footage of the arrest below:

@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

Image via Shutterstock