Retired GBH News senior investigative reporter Phillip Martin recently made the news after being refused service at Cambridge cafe. Martin met with people from Caffè Nero’s corporate team Tuesday afternoon and accepted their apology, he told GBH News.

Martin was meeting another journalist at Caffè Nero in Central Square when a staff member mistakenly identified him as someone who had previously caused a disruption at the cafe.

“The person behind the counter looked at me and she said, ‘No, we are not serving you. We’ve been told by my boss not to serve you,’” Martin recalled. “And I said, ‘You must be mistaken. There has to be a problem.’ She said, ‘No, we looked at the video and it’s you.’”

He said the cafe worker refused to answer his questions about the video, then turned to the next person in line. After she said she was going to call the police, Martin decided to do the same.

“I know from my own reporting that you have to have some type of parity — create some type parity if it does not already exist — in terms of racial dynamics,” he said.

The Cambridge Police Department confirmed that officers responded to the cafe and spoke separately with Martin and staff members.

“Staff members told officers they had recognized Mr. Martin and asked him to leave as they believed him to be the same customer who had been disruptive in the store a few days prior,” Sgt. Bob Reardon, a spokesperson for the department, said in a statement to GBH News. “It was ultimately determined to be a misunderstanding and staff allowed Mr. Martin to return to the business.”

Martin said he initially spoke out about the incident because this type of situation also impacts other people. He reviewed the video and doesn’t think the person he was confused for looks anything like him.

But after speaking with the corporate team, Martin feels the situation is resolved.

The company’s U.S. chief operating officer, Paul Morgan, told Martin by email that he was “mortified” by last Thursday’s incident, according to a copy of the email Martin shared with GBH News. Morgan wrote that the Central Square location team has received in-person training in response to the incident and that all stores will receive a podcast recorded by the company’s head of people.

“This was not acceptable, and we are taking this very seriously. Our goal is to ensure that this cannot happen again,” Morgan wrote.

“This was a genuine case of mistaken identity due to the close similarity of height, build, and style of beard and glasses with a customer who had been responsible for significant anti-social behaviour previously,” the spokesperson wrote. “While it is not acceptable to confuse any customer with another, the prior incident was traumatic for the barista involved and it triggered her response.”

Martin said racial bias often plays into people’s decision-making, and it’s an issue he has reported on throughout his career in journalism. He noted that eyewitness misidentification and racial bias contribute to the disproportionate number of Black men in the criminal justice system.

“It starts with something that’s innocent, as a misidentification at a counter in a restaurant or a cafe or a store. Once the police are involved, misidentification becomes a major, major issue,” Martin said.

Shortly before his own case of mistaken identity in Cambridge, Martin interviewed Alonzo Sawyer, who was arrested after being mistakenly identified from video footage in Maryland.

“There’s so much at stake in the context of our criminal justice system and in the way we react to these types of problems,” Martin said.

Mark Herz is the local host of GBH News’ Morning Edition. Lisa Wardle is a senior editor for GBH News.