Starbucks CEO apologizes to the 2 black men arrested in a Philadelphia store, says he wants to meet with them ‘face-to-face’

‘Our practices and training led to a bad outcome’

Johnson said he was issuing the statement to “once again express our deepest apologies,” as well as address the company’s plans to investigate the incident and change any practices necessary, and assure the public that “Starbucks stands firmly against discrimination or racial profiling.”

Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson presents during the Starbucks 2016 Investor Day meeting, in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016. Associated Press/Richard Drew

“Regretfully, our practices and training led to a bad outcome — the basis for the call to the Philadelphia police department was wrong,” Johnson said. “Our store manager never intended for these men to be arrested and this should never have escalated as it did.”

Johnson said he will join the company’s regional vice president, Camille Hymes, in Philadelphia to speak with employees, customers, community leaders, and law-enforcement officials. He added that he wants to personally meet with the two men who were arrested “to offer a face-to-face apology.”

He added that Starbucks is launching an investigation of its practices and intends to work with “community leaders” and outside experts to adopt changes. He said employees will also receive training to better know when police should be called.

Starbucks had issued a briefer apology earlier on Saturday, which was instantly criticized as being insufficient and unclear on what steps the company would take to address and rectify the situation.

“We apologize to the two individuals and our customers and are disappointed this led to an arrest,” the initial statement read. “We take these matters seriously and clearly have more work to do when it comes to how we handle incidents in our stores.”

The Philadelphia Police Department has defended the officers who arrested the men, and said they “did absolutely nothing wrong,” and had legal standing to arrest the men for trespassing.

The District Attorney declined to prosecute the men, saying there was a “lack of evidence of a crime.”

Article Appeared @http://www.businessinsider.com/starbucks-ceo-apology-black-men-arrested-viral-video-2018-4

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