Deputy Who Shoved Ujiri Compares Situation to Munich Massacre, Threat Could Have Been 'Mass Murder or Terrorism'
Alameda County sheriff's deputy Alan Strickland who repeatedly shoved Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri after Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals is claiming in legal papers that stopping Ujiri from walking onto the court could have stopped a threat similar to the Munich Massacre in which 11 Israeli athletes were killed by terrorists at the 1972 Olympics.
The altercation between Ujiri and Strickland occurred just moments after the Raptors won their first NBA championship. As Ujiri walked to the court, attempting to pull out his credential, Strickland twice shoved Ujiri, stopping him from entering the court, bodycam video evidence shows.
In documents seeing the dismissal of Ujiri's countersuit, Strickland claims he was trying to stop a potentially serious threat, according to KTVU's Lisa Fernandez.
"Had Deputy Strickland not employed force, he would have risked having the suspect not only trespass onto the court, he would have risked the suspect quickly getting lost amid the growing crowd of folks authorized to be on the court, and potentially committing any number of possibly serious crimes," according to Strickland's legal argument. "After all, this was a high-profile sporting event, which entailed a risk of crimes ranging from vandalism to assaults on players (e.g., the 1993 fan’s stabbing of tennis great Monica Seles), assaults on coaches (e.g., the 2002 assault of Royals Coach Tom Gamboa by two fans), player-fan brawls (the 2004 brawl involving numerous fans and players at the end of a Pistons-Pacers NBA game), and even mass murder or terrorism (e.g., the mass murder of Israeli athletes by terrorists at the Munich Olympics). The same threats persisted when Mr. Ujiri continued to attempt to barge past the second time, still without showing his (invalid) credential, even after being shoved and ordered to back up."
Ujiri has alleged the incident was racially motivated, claiming he was the victim of police brutality and discrimination based on the colour of his skin.
"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," Ujiri wrote in a statement.
