The city of Philadelphia announced a settlement with the two black men who were arrested for trespassing at a Starbucks in April — for $1 each.
The city also promised to fund a $200,000 pilot program for the city’s young entrepreneurs, as per the men’s wishes.
Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson were arrested on April 12 while waiting for a friend.
The police were called because these men hadn’t ordered anything.
“Messrs. Nelson and Robinson have decided not to pursue a lawsuit against the City,” reads a statement issued by the city.
“Instead, they approached the City and agreed to release the City and its employees from any and all claims for a payment of $1 (One Dollar) to each of them.”
The statement further said that the city will fund a $200,000 grant for a “pilot program for city public high school students with aspirations of becoming entrepreneurs” per Nelson and Robinson’s specific requests, and that Nelson and Robinson will not receive any money from said grant.
@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
“I am pleased to have resolved the potential claims against the city in this productive manner,” Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney told the Associated Press. “This was an incident that evoked a lot of pain in our city and put us under a national spotlight for unwanted reasons.”
“Rather than spending time, money and resources to engage in a potentially adversarial process, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson approached the City and invited us to partner with them in an attempt to make something positive come of this,” Kenney added in a lengthier statement released Wednesday. “This agreement is the result of those conversations, and I look forward to seeing the fruits of this effort in the coming months and years.”
Nelson and Robinson were later released the same day and no charges were filed, but footage of the arrest went viral on social media, prompting boycotts.
Following the incident, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson came to Philadelphia to apologize to the men. He also announced that more than 8,000 Starbucks stores in the U.S. would be closing on the afternoon of May 29 in order to implement “unconscious bias” training.
Days later, the commissioner of the Philadelphia police, Richard Ross, apologized for the incident at a press conference following backlash over the language he used in initially appearing to defend the arresting officers.
This Fox News article is used by permission; the Associated Press contributed.
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