Video was released on Tuesday from the infamous Masai Ujiri incident after the Toronto Raptors won the NBA championship last year.
Ujiri was accused of hitting sheriff’s deputy Alan Strickland in the face when trying to get onto the court to celebrate the Raptors’ Game 6 victory. At the time, we only had a video that showed the two being separated after the alleged incident.
Now we have more videos of what transpired.
Beware of the bad language used by Strickland in the video:
The video shows that Ujiri was looking past the security guard and only halfway pulled out his credential. He tried to walk past the guard, thinking there was no issue since he is a Raptors executive. Instead, Strickland responded with physical force, pushing Ujiri back harshly two times.
The amount of force used by Strickland was unnecessary and escalated the situation to an unnecessary level. Ujiri ended up pushing Strickland back.
The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office pursued a misdemeanor complaint against Ujiri for battery of a police officer. The deputy later said he had a concussion from the incident.
Strickland filed a federal lawsuit against Ujiri and the Raptors over injuries he allegedly suffered. He also filed a workers’ compensation claim.
Ujiri’s legal team released a statement saying the claims were without merit.
Raptors spokesperson on release of video footage involving team president Masai Ujiri and a Bay Area police officer in moments after end of 2019 NBA Finals: pic.twitter.com/sPq6y1tbw5
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 19, 2020
Ujiri, 50, joined the Raptors in 2013 and helped build them into a championship team.
