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Police pursuing complaint against Ujiri after confrontation with cop

Joe Murphy / National Basketball Association / Getty

The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office is pursuing a misdemeanor complaint against Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri for battery of a police officer, the office confirmed to USA TODAY's Dan Woken.

Thursday's alleged incident occurred in the moments after the Raptors' NBA championship victory on the floor of Oracle Arena. Ujiri is accused of twice shoving an officer and striking him in the face after he was blocked from entering the court because he didn't display his game credential.

Footage shows the aftermath of a situation during which Ujiri is being separated from a law enforcement officer.

"We were told to strictly enforce the credentialing policy and not allow anyone onto the court without a credential, so our deputies were doing that," office spokesperson Sgt. Ray Kelly said. "Our deputy contacted Mr. Masai Ujiri as he attempted to walk onto the court. He had no credential displayed, and our deputy asked for his credential.

"Mr. Ujiri didn’t produce them and pushed our deputy out of the way to gain access to the court," Kelly added. "At that point our deputy tried to stop him and pushed him backward and then Mr. Ujiri came back with a second shove, a more significant push that, with his forward momentum, his arm struck our deputy in the face. At that point our deputy pushed Mr. Ujiri away again and some NBA security people and others intervened and he ended up walking onto the court."

The Alameda County District Attorney will decide if charges are to be brought against Ujiri.

"We decided to take the high road in light of their victory but will submit a report for complaint," Kelly added. "We’ve got two countries involved in this. It's not something we wanted to have happen. It didn't have to go this route."

The Raptors have not commented on the situation.

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