Philadelphia’s mayor’s office and Police Department have begun separate investigations into the arrest of two African American men waiting to meet an acquaintance at a Center City Starbucks on Thursday after a video of the incident was widely shared on social media, triggering national outrage. @ 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 pic.twitter.com/0U4Pzs55Ci — Melissa DePino (@missydepino) April 12, 2018 
 
 In the clip, the two men can be seen being escorted from a table at the cafe in handcuffs while a white man, who has been identified as Philadelphia real estate investor Andrew Yaffe, asks why officers were called and attempts to explain to police that the two men were waiting for him. Ross said the men were released after officers became aware that Starbucks “no longer was interested in prosecuting.” 
 
 As the video of the men’s detention spread, Starbucks was accused by some of tolerating racism by its staff. We’re reviewing the incident with our partners, law enforcement and customers to determine what took place and led to this unfortunate result. “We apologize to the two individuals and our customers and are disappointed this led to an arrest,” the chain said. “Starbucks has issued an apology, but that is not enough.” 
 
 Police spokesman Troy T. Brown, meanwhile, said the department’s internal affairs investigation is “active and ongoing.” 
 
 “We are a department that’s always looking to enhance and improve upon ways that we do things,” Ross said in his Facebook video.
– Videos showing two black men handcuffed and removed from a Philadelphia Starbucks have drawn outrage and prompted a police investigation, the AP reports. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that one clip posted Thursday on YouTube shows police talking to the men for several minutes earlier this week before handcuffing them and escorting them out of the Center City establishment. A second shorter clip shows a white man, Alan Yaffe, who says he was meeting with the two, asking police what the men did wrong. He calls their arrest "ridiculous" and says to an officer, "I wanted to get coffee for two black guys sitting and meeting with me. Does anybody else think this is ridiculous?" Attorney Lauren Wimmer, a friend of Yaffe's, says he "was meeting with the two gentlemen at the Starbucks to discuss business" when a Starbucks manager called 911 on the men for reasons "completely based on race." She says the two men—whom she would not identify—were arrested for "defiant tresspass," fingerprinted at a police station, and released due to lack of evidence. She's now representing them pro bono. Police say they are conducting an internal investigation and Starbucks is "reviewing the incident." Now outrage is flowing online, including this tweet from Black Lives Matter and one from Brittany Packnett, who writes, "This is tired. Racism is tired. What say you, @starbucks?!!"