Police Report Says the Man Who Slowed Down the Graduation in Wisconsin Told Them He Didn’t Like the Director

A man who interrupted a high school graduation in Wisconsin by storming the stage and stopping the superintendent from shaking hands with his daughter told cops that he didn’t like the administrator and didn’t want him to “have the satisfaction” of shaking her hand.

On Friday night at Baraboo High School’s graduation, Matthew Eddy walked up to Baraboo Superintendent Rainey Briggs and moved him out of the line of officials greeting graduates as they got their diplomas. That’s when he called the police.

A police report says that Eddy told them that he and his daughter had “past issues” with Briggs and who they don’t like.

The incident report is the only thing that the public has seen that hints at a possible reason. Many times this week, Eddy has been asked to speak, but he has not responded. When asked by phone on Friday, Briggs refused to answer. Neither of them has said anything about it in public.

In the report, a school resource officer who talked to Eddy said that even though Eddy admitted going on stage to stop Briggs from shaking hands with his daughter, he “did not necessarily state how he physically prevented” them from interacting and “was vague” when asked about it. The school officer also said that he told Eddy that what he did was wrong and that it could have been dealt with better.

The police report says that Matthew was told that what he did made graduation less fun for everyone and probably brought too much attention to his daughter.

According to the report, Eddy told the officer that he felt bad about what he did, but only for his daughter’s sake. This made the officer think that “this may have been something he had planned to do.”

According to the police report, Briggs left the school grounds right after the service.

When Eddy called the superintendent on Monday, the school security officer told Briggs that the superintendent didn’t know who Eddy was. This was written in the report. The report says that Briggs told the officer that Eddy’s daughter had been expelled from school, but that he doesn’t talk to parents directly about expulsions and couldn’t remember any other contacts he had with Eddy or why Eddy acted the way he did.

Briggs also told the police officer that he was going to get an order to keep Eddy away, which he did this week. Eddy was told not to talk to Briggs in the temporary order that was made Monday in Dane County Circuit Court. On June 14, there will be a meeting.

Briggs wrote in his request for the order that Eddy “reached the stage quickly, put both hands on me to push me out of the way, and said, ‘You are not going to touch my f—— daughter.'” The petition says that Briggs then “made space” and told Eddy to stop touching him. According to the plea, Briggs says Eddy started to “push and pry” at him and that he put out his hands to keep Eddy away.

The report says that Briggs told an officer that Eddy’s actions “made him afraid” because they came after “numerous threats” he had received as supervisor. There isn’t much more in the article about these threats.

Many people have shared online a video of Eddy approaching Briggs. Four members of the school board and the director were also on stage, but Eddy only talked to Briggs.

The school district said it is taking the “unfortunate event” carefully and will be working closely with the police to make sure the investigation is complete.

Someone “threatening, intimidating, or physically harming anyone in our School District community” is not okay with the Baraboo School Board, which said in a statement.

The school board said, “That this adult felt able to act in this way in front of hundreds of students and other adults should deeply trouble us all; this type of behavior will not be tolerated.” The board also said, “The community is asked to take a stand and speak out against this type of behavior that threatens the fabric of our democracy.”

Baraboo is 40 miles northwest of Madison, and there are not more than 13,000 people living there. The most current census shows that 90.4% of the people living there are white.