So a Black man was harassed by the police despite following protocol? Interesting.
When the Raptors shockingly defeated the Warriors in Game 6 of the NBA Finals at Oracle Arena, Toronto erupted over their first NBA title.
Players celebrated on the court, and their team President, Masair Ujiri, walked down to celebrate with the team, and that’s when things got ugly.
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Ujiri, who had his credentials in his hand, was then stopped and harassed by a Alameda County sheriff’s deputy as he tried to step onto the court, and a brief, but ugly, altercation ensued. The deputy claimed Ujiri didn’t have his credentials, which is why he stopped the Raptors’ executive.
After cooler heads prevailed, Ujiri celebrated the team’s win and the news began to circulate about the incident. Reports began circulating that Masai was to be questioned by the sheriff’s office, while others spoke to his innocence.
The attorney for the deputy even claimed that his client has “a serious jaw injury” after Ujiri allegedly pushed and struck him in the face.
“The officer is off work, disabled and wants to go back to work,” said his attorney, David Mastagni, who also mentioned that his client suffered a concussion in the altercation.
Well after the investigation, and numerous interviews with fans around the incident, its become clear that Ujiri did, in fact, have his NBA identification and did identify himself as the Raptors President.
A sheriff’s office spokesperson stated footage existed which showed Ujiri hit the deputy with “two fists”, one landing “underneath the jaw on the left side of his face.”
Yet despite that claim, some witnesses have stated that they didn’t witness any punches being thrown,
“From what I saw it was just shoving,” said Lucas Abrenica. “There were no punches thrown or anything like that.”.
But regardless, it’s now been confirmed that Ujiri did have ID and did identify himself. Apparently though, that wasn’t enough to prevent a physical altercation between a Black man and law enforcement.
As reported by Bay Area NBC Sports, the department is looking to pursue the matter further:
“Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern “personally reviewed” the deputy’s bodycam footage, as well as that of Oracle’s security cameras. He told the outlet that he will recommend the district attorney charge Ujiri with misdemeanor battery of an officer.”
The Raptors, in a statement, said the incident “is being looked at, and we are cooperating with authorities. We look forward to resolving the situation.”
Good thing it didn’t escalate in a way we’ve, unfortunately, seen way too many of these situations escalate.
