New video and body cam footage completely contradicts a claim made by Alameda County sheriff's deputy Alan Strickland that NBA champions Toronto Raptor’s president, Masai Ujiri, initiated a physical altercation at the NBA finals in June of 2019. At the time, Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern said his deputy had been struck in the face and shoulder by Ujiri and called for battery charges to be pursued. After a month-long investigation, California officials announced that no charges would be filed in the case.
Strickland decided to sue the Raptors’ president in February of this year, saying he had suffered "severe emotional and physical distress," as well as a concussion and jaw injury that required him to take medical leave. At the time, the Raptors said through a spokesperson that they were “disappointed” that Strickland had “elected to take this path,” calling his allegations “baseless and entirely without merit.” As the newly released video shows, possibly soon-to-be former Officer Strickland’s judgment in suing Mr. Ujiri might be equal to his bad judgement during the altercation in the first place.
Numerous videos have appeared showing the moments after Game Six of the 2019 NBA finals, when the Raptors’ claimed victory over the defending champions, the Golden State Warriors. In every video, Ujiri can be seen walking toward the court as Strickland begins moving to cut him off. As the two men come together, Ujiri can be seen reaching into his suit and beginning to pull out his laminated credentials. To be clear, there are four Black presidents in the entire NBA. The game Strickland was working at, by the court, was between two teams. This was the sixth game between the two teams and the third at Oracle Arena. Ujiri, as can be seen in the video, is the only man in the vicinity wearing an executive’s uniform (an expensive suit). Then again, Ujiri is also the only Black person in Strickland’s field of vision at the time. Just sayin’.
Minutes after altercation with Alameda law enforcement, Mr. Ujiri accepted the 2019 NBA championship and did a stadium interview.
In the videos, one can see Strickland push Ujiri back hard, pressing Ujiri’s hand that’s holding the credentials back into Ujiri’s chest. Ujiri then exclaims: “I’m the president of the Raptors.” This does not seem to faze the deputy sheriff, who, for some reason, is unwilling to look at Ujiri’s credentials and has zero interest in finding out who he is or why this well-dressed man is walking around. A reminder: There are a few dozen people “walking around” just in the 15-foot radius of this deputy. Ujiri then steps forward again and can be seen pointing to the court, explaining that he has the right to be there, at which point Strickland very forcefully pushes Ujiri back at least eight feet.
The entire time there are people around Strickland who are clearly trying to explain that he is not reacting well, nor is he right in his bizarre assumptions about Ujiri’s legitimate claim to being allowed courtside. It is after this more violent shove that Ujiri steps forward and shoves Strickland back. At this point, any and all bystanders around are stepping in front of Strickland and not Ujiri. It’s almost like everyone but Strickland can see that only one of these two men is acting dangerously aggressive.
The new video is a part of Ujiri’s countersuit against Strickland, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Oakland, California, on Tuesday. ESPN reports that Ujiri’s suit seems to line up a lot closer with the video evidence than Strickland’s.
"After being shoved and cursed at, Mr. Ujiri did not respond aggressively towards Mr. Strickland. 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--- 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."
Being overly aggressive and abusive while also being pig-headed and a liar is arguably the No. 1 reason anyone should be let go from a job. When your job includes having weapons and the charge of protecting people as a “peace officer,” you might deserve to be charged with something yourself.
