Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson had been in a Philadelphia Starbucks for about two minutes before the police were called. That revelation comes from an interview with the two men on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that aired Thursday.
In audio (below) released by the Philadelphia Police Dept., a woman’s voice can be heard in the 911 call saying, “I have two gentlemen in my café that are refusing to make a purchase or leave.” That was at 4:37 PM.
It almost sounded like a regular call, not the first time it was made.
Notice the language she used: “two gentlemen.”
In that same audio, a police dispatcher creates an entirely different scenario, telling officers there is “a group of males refusing to leave.” A few minutes later – about nine minutes after Nelson and Robinson had entered the coffee shop – the officers request a supervisor. The dispatcher tells the supervisor there’s a “disturbance at the Starbucks, a group of males causing a disturbance.”
By 5 PM Nelson and Robinson had been handcuffed and removed from the store.
They tell Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts they were not read their Miranda rights, and officers did not even ask them why they were there. The two men say the officers approached them and told them they had to leave.
When they were arrested, they say they were not told why they were being arrested.
“It didn’t really hit me what was going on, that it was real, until I’m being double-locked with my hands behind my back,” Robinson says.
The men say they were there for a real estate meeting they had been working on for months.
In a separate video posted to Facebook Saturday Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross appears to take the side of the Starbucks staff, repeating the staff’s story as if it were factual – which it may or may not be.
Starbucks is closing its 8000 U.S. stores on May 29 for an afternoon of training on racial bias.
What is the Philadelphia Police Dept. going to do to retrain its officers?
Audio of 911 and dispatcher calls: