Screenshot via Twitter /photo by Larry W. Smith via the Canadian Press
Toronto police are in possession of a video that appears to show a Golden State Warriors fan and another person being attacked in downtown Toronto following the Warriors victory over the Raptors in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.The video, tweeted by @comeflywithb and shared by local media, appears to show a man in a hood rush two people—at least one of whom is wearing a Warriors jersey—while they are crossing a street downtown. Both the man in the jersey and the other person are knocked to the ground in the middle of a crosswalk. The man in the jersey quickly hops to his feet and starts walking quickly in the direction of his assailant, while the person he was walking with remains on the ground.That’s when another man comes behind and appears to grab the man in the jersey around his neck and shoulders forcefully.VICE has reached out to @comeflywithb, who tweeted the video, but has not yet heard back; the account has since been made private.Toronto police said they are in possession of the video but don’t yet know much about its contents or who was in it. They are encouraging the people being attacked to file a complaint and have said they won’t take further action until that happens. Police said they can’t speculate as to whether the behaviour in the video qualifies as an assault.“It could be a group of friends, it could be anything,” said Toronto police spokeswoman Caroline de Kloet. “If somebody feels like they were threatened or they were a target of a criminal act we hope they come forward.”She said police also received calls about a fight and a stabbing that stemmed from a fight last night, but it’s not clear if the incidents were tied to the game.The video has surfaced in the aftermath of ugly behaviour from some Raptors fans—namely those who cheered when Warriors star forward Kevin Durant injured himself and had to exit the game. The incident took place right as Serge Ibaka stole the ball. Durant have previously been suffering from a calf injury and hadn’t played with the Warriors since May 8. The team has since said they believe Durant has torn his right Achilles tendon.
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Raptors Kyle Lowry and Ibaka both motioned to the crowd to stop cheering for Durant’s injury, after which the crowd began cheering for Durant instead. But the damage was done. Durant’s teammate DeMarcus Cousins described the fan reaction as “trash” while Draymond Green said it was “classless” especially because he said he’d “always witnessed Canadians being the nicest people that I’ve ever encountered."The Warriors won the game 106-105, and the series is now 3-2 in favour of the Raptors. The next game is Thursday in Oakland.Follow Manisha on Twitter