On Tuesday night, attorneys for Toronto Raptors President Masai Ujiri released bodycam footage from last June of an altercation between him and an Alameda County Sheriff’s deputy. The deputy has maintained that Ujiri was the aggressor, but the footage tells a very different story.
What We Know:
- The incident occurred after Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals, where the Toronto Raptors defeated the Golden State Warriors to secure the franchise’s first championship. As the Raptors players celebrated their victory, Ujiri walked onto the court to join his team for the championship trophy presentation. Alameda Sheriff’s Deputy Alan Strickland alleges that Ujiri did not present his credentials and that he initiated the altercation. The newly released footage shows that Ujiri did, in fact, present his credentials and that Strickland grabbed him by the suit and shoved him twice, yelling “back the f*ck off”.
Masai Ujiri's legal team has released this body camera footage of his encounter with a sheriff's deputy as he tried to walk onto the court at Oracle Arena after the Raptors won the 2019 NBA Finals.
(via @diamond83) pic.twitter.com/OJKn8R3NmU
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- Strickland filed a suit against Ujiri in February, claiming that Ujiri hit him “in the face and chest with both fists” and that he had “suffered, and will continue to suffer physical, mental, emotional, and economic injuries”.
- In response to the footage being released, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office commented: “We 100 percent stand by [the] original statement that was released that Mr. Ujiri is the aggressor in this incident Don’t be quick to judge based off of what lawyers are saying.” The bodycam footage is part of a countersuit filed by Ujiri, accusing Strickland of fraud and claiming that this footage clearly shows him as the instigator.
“To me it’s incredible that things play out like that. I think something incredible was taken away from me and I will never forget it. It is one of the things that drives me to win another championship because I want to be able to celebrate a championship the right way. This thing will be settled. The truth will come out. The truth will come out of this.” – Masai Ujiri
- The Toronto Raptors commented on the footage on Tuesday, saying, “we have always maintained that the claims made against Masai are baseless and entirely without merit. We believe this video evidence shows exactly that – Masai was not an aggressor, but instead was the recipient of two very violent, unwarranted actions.”
- Ujiri is a recipient of the NBA Executive of the Year award and has been with the Raptors organization since 2013. During his tenure, the Raptors have been a perennial playoff team. He notably traded franchise player Demar Derozan to the San Antonio Spurs in 2018 for Kawhi Leonard, who eventually led the team to its 2019 NBA championship.
Raptors guard Fred VanVleet had this to say after watching the new footage: “Obviously, we are all privileged and Masai is privileged in his world, but you stop and think about how good we got it because there are people who are going to be in that same situation walking down the street, who don’t have money to fight the case who don’t have 20,000 people in the stands. How many times do cops do that without the bodycam on?”
