New videos appear to show that Toronto Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri didn’t instigate the infamous altercation with a police officer in 2019.
Following the Toronto Raptors winning the 2019 NBA championship against Golden State, Ujiri was accused of getting into it with police officer Alan Strickland near the court. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
Strickland sued but two new videos don’t make him look great. In a video released by Ujiri’s legal team, who is countersuing, it very much appears like Strickland started the entire thing.
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
In a second video tweeted by @cbcsports from a different angle, it also appears like Strickland initiated contact and that Ujiri didn’t start anything.
New video footage appears to show Raptors president Masai Ujiri didn’t instigate the altercation he was sued over after Toronto won the NBA title in June 2019 pic.twitter.com/mMsD6PuIto
— CBC Sports (@cbcsports) August 19, 2020
The craziest part about this whole thing is that Strickland’s lawsuit says the officer “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,” according to ESPN.
I don’t know what situation he’s basing that on, but the videos above most certainly tell a very different story.
ALTERNATE FAN ANGLE: You can see Masai Ujiri apparently yelling back and forth with the Police Depty he had an alleged incident with.
Kyle Lowry finally pulls him away to celebrate the #Raptors championship.
(via LIN17KD19/IG) pic.twitter.com/LH6tZote2J
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) June 14, 2019
I can’t wait to see the spin zone on this whole situation from Strickland. It looks like Ujiri hardly touched him, and it looks like Strickland instigated the whole thing.
As they say, the video doesn’t lie! We’ll have to see how it shakes out, but something tells me Ujiri isn’t losing this lawsuit.
UPDATE: @Raptors statement on incident after #NBAFinals Game 6 involving team president and @ACSOSheriffs deputy.
“The incident is being looked at, and we are cooperating with authorities. We look forward to resolving the situation.”https://t.co/oSN3savNeL
[Video: @BENBALLER] pic.twitter.com/dUvKxbU6uM— Kristofer Noceda (@krisnoceda) June 14, 2019