A few people owe Toronto Raptors’ President Masai Ujiri an apology.
Video footage was released on Tuesday from the infamous Masai Ujiri incident after the Toronto Raptors won the NBA championship last year.
Ujiri was making his way to the Oracle Arena court on June 13, 2019, so he could celebrate the Raptors’ title-clinching win over the Warriors when he was involved in a shoving match with Alameda County Sheriff’s Deputy Alan Strickland.
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 shoving 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.
After seeing the video footage, Strickland’s claim looks weak.
Ujiri’s legal team released a statement saying the claims were without merit.
Men lie, women lie, video footage doesn’t. Hopefully, Ujiri gets more than an apology from the officers.
