The Toronto Raptors were about to celebrate the franchise’s first NBA championship and team president Masai Ujiri was racing down to the court at Oracle Arena to celebrate with his players when he ran into a sheriff’s deputy who said he didn’t have the proper credentials.
That deputy said Ujiri was the aggressor and hit him in the face. No criminal charges were filed, but the deputy sued in federal court saying Ujiri “hit him in the face and chest with both fists” and that Ujiri had “previous altercations involving similar circumstances.”
Ujiri has denied all of that saying he was the one who was struck. Now Ujiri’s legal team has released the officer’s bodycam footage, and it shows the deputy as the aggressor. Via Diamond Leung of The Athletic.
Masai Ujiri's legal team has released body camera footage of his encounter with a security worker at Oracle Arena after the Raptors won the NBA championship. pic.twitter.com/56XWMpZy0P
— Diamond Leung (@diamond83) August 19, 2020
While there could be more footage after this video cuts off, already people around them are stepping in to break this up when this video ends.
It does not look like Ujiri was “violent” or “stormed” toward the deputy, as the lawsuit against Ujiri said.
The Raptors released a statement saying they always believed Ujiri and have his back.
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
The case continues to work its way through the federal court system.