Raptors’ Ujiri: Racial bias behind incident
In a lawsuit stemming from an altercation with a sheriff ’s deputy after the Toronto Raptors won the 2019 NBA championship, attorneys for Masai Ujiri, the team’s president of basketball operations, filed a counterclaim Tuesday that included video the NBA team said shows he “was not an aggressor, but instead was the recipient of two very violent, unwarranted actions.”
In a statement released Thursday by the Raptors, Ujiri claimed that the officer’s actions were racially motivated.
“What saddens me most about this ordeal is that the only reason why I am getting the justice I deserve in this moment is because of my success,” said Ujiri, 50. “Because I’m the President of a NBA team, I had access to resources that ensured I could demand and fight for my justice.
“So many of my brothers and sisters haven’t had, don’t have, and won’t have the same access to resources that assured my justice. And that’s why Black Lives Matter.”
Body-cam video accompanying the 108-page counterclaim, filed in U.S. District Court in Oakland, Calif., shows Alan Strickland, a deputy with the Alameda County Sheriff ’s Office, grabbing Ujiri by the jacket and shoving him, telling him to “back the f—- up” as Ujiri attempted to pull his team credential from his jacket to show Strickland. Ujiri was trying to join his team on the Oracle Arena court after the Raptors’ title-clinching Game 6 victory over the Golden State Warriors.
“Why did you push me?” Ujiri asks in the 6-minute 20-second video that includes edited clips. “I’m the president of the Raptors.” The two appear to exchange words and Ujiri shows his credential again. Strickland shoves him a second time, and Ujiri shoves back. The two were separated, and Ujiri eventually was able to join the team and do a TV interview.
“The video sadly demonstrates how horribly I was treated by a law enforcement officer last year in the midst of my team, the Toronto Raptors, winning its first world championship,” said Ujiri, who was born in England to Nigerian parents. “It was an exhilarating moment of achievement for our organization, for our players, for our city, for our country, and for me personally, given my long-tenured professional journey in the NBA. Yet, unfortunately, I was reminded in that moment that despite all of my hard work and success, there are some people, including those who are supposed to protect us, who will always and only see me as something that is unworthy of respectful engagement.
“And, there’s only one indisputable reason why that is the case - because I am Black.”
“After being shoved and cursed at, Mr. Ujiri did not respond aggressively toward Mr. Strickland,” the lawsuit states. “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.”
Attorneys for Strickland have not responded to a request for comment.
In a federal lawsuit filed in February and naming Ujiri, the NBA and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment as defendants, Strickland alleged Ujiri assaulted him and that he had “suffered injury to his body, health, strength, activity and person,” causing him “great mental, emotional, psychological, physical, and nervous pain and suffering.” He also filed a workers’ compensation claim alleging Ujiri “circumvented” the security checkpoint and then tried to “storm” the court and “hit him in the face and chest with both fists.”
Although Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern initially requested Ujiri be charged with battery of a peace officer, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office declined to press charges after an investigation ended with a meeting among the office, Ujiri and his lawyers in October.
The counterclaim, which includes the NBA, the Raptors and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment as coplaintiffs with Ujiri, alleges Strickland falsified the encounter with Ujiri, calling it “a complete fabrication” and an attempt to portray Ujiri as “the initial aggressor and an inherently violent individual.”