While the Toronto Raptors’ epic game six victory over the Golden State Warriors in the NBA championship finals of 2019 may seem like a long time ago (thanks, corona) the legal case between the organization’s president Masai Ujiri and a San Francisco Bay Area sheriff's deputy is still ongoing. Ujiri was infamously involved in an altercation at the close of the title-winning game last summer in California when a local deputy used physical force to attempt to block him from joining his team in a post-game, on-court victory celebration.Many, including Ujiri himself, have attributed the incident to racism. In an op-ed for
The Globe and Mail (via
Sportsnet), Ujiri wrote “If it was another team president heading for the court – a white team president – would he have been stopped by that officer? I’ve wondered that.” Now, new video footage shows that Ujiri was not the aggressor in the incident, despite the fact that the deputy, Alan Strickland, initially went on the legal offensive and filed a lawsuit against the Raptors’ president.Video evidence shows Strickland shouting for Ujiri to "back the f#*k up" while shoving him not once but twice as Ujiri attempts to present his all-access credentials in order to join his team on the court. After being shoved for the second time, Ujiri reacts and responds in kind to his aggressor. The initial suit, filed last February by Strickland, claims that he "suffered injury to his body, health, strength, activity and person, all of which have caused and continue to cause Plaintiff great mental, emotional, psychological, physical, and nervous pain and suffering." The new video goes a long way in contradicting those claims."After being shoved and cursed at, Mr. Ujiri did not respond aggressively towards Mr. Strickland,"
reads the newly filed countersuit. "Instead, he calmly asked Mr. Strickland why he had pushed him, informed Mr. Strickland he was the Raptors' President, and held up his all-access arena credential to show it to Mr. Strickland. Rather than trying to communicate with Mr. Ujiri, Mr. Strickland chose to dismiss Mr. Ujiri's claim that he was the Raptors' President and ignore the all-access credential Mr. Ujiri was trying to show him. Mr. Strickland then forcefully shoved Mr. Ujiri a second time. Only after being unjustifiably told to 'back the f#*k up' and shoved twice did Mr. Ujiri show any response and return a shove to Mr. Strickland's chest. Mr. Ujiri's defensive response was a reasonable and justified reaction to Mr. Strickland's use of unnecessary and excessive force."Ultimately, Ujiri was able to make his way onto the court in order to mark the moment with his team but the historic victory was most likely marred by the confrontation with Strickland. "It probably ruins a night of tremendous celebration for Masai, with the actions of the officer," said Raptors head coach Nick Nurse who added that in "many instances, people make accusations, assumptions, throw the guilty thing at lots of people ... there's a lot of just flat-out unkind behavior towards people, when they don't really know the truth. And I find it all really disheartening and disappointing, to be honest."After months of investigation into Strickland’s claims that Ujiri was the aggressor in the incident, no charges were laid against the Raptors’ team president.[video_embed id='1972112']RELATED: Masai Ujiri says we need to address racial injustices[/video_embed]
