Raptors president Masai Ujiri reportedly in altercation with deputy after NBA Finals Game 6

Tom Gatto

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Raptors president Masai Ujiri reportedly in altercation with deputy after NBA Finals Game 6 image

Police in Alameda County, Calif., are investigating an alleged physical altercation between Raptors team president Masai Ujiri and a county sheriff's deputy after Game 6 of the NBA Finals in Oakland, two outlets reported late Thursday.

NBC Bay Area posted video that purportedly shows the end of the altercation. A man is seen getting between the deputy and someone who appears to be Ujiri.

Sheriff's department spokesman Ray Kelly told the San Francisco Chronicle that the deputy refused to grant a Raptors executive — Kelly did not identify Ujiri by name — access to the court because the executive did not have the proper credential. Kelly also said the executive pushed the deputy first.

Ujiri was not arrested, but the sheriff's office and Oakland police will investigate the matter and the case will be submitted to the Alameda County District Attorney's Office for review, Kelly told the Chronicle.

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"Any time you push a police officer in California, it’s a misdemeanor, battery of a police officer,” Kelly told the Chronicle.

Raptors guard Kyle Lowry was shown pulling Ujiri onto the court to celebrate the team's victory over the Warriors and the franchise's first NBA championship.

NBC Bay Area reported that it was awaiting a response from the NBA to a request for comment. The Chronicle reported that the Raptors had not responded to a request for comment.

UPDATE: The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office will pursue a misdemeanor complaint against Ujiri, a spokesman for the department told USA Today. The Raptors are aware of the incident, but they have no further comment at this time.

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.