Wisconsin father who stormed graduation stage falsely claims school principal initiated physical contact

Despite a video circulating online proving otherwise, the parent of a Baraboo High School student charged with disturbing the peace for disrupting the graduation ceremony falsely claimed that the school’s principal was the one who initiated physical contact in the disturbance. “I didn’t touch him until he touched me,” Matthew Eddy told Baraboo Police Officer Brandon Meyer, according to a video of their conversation recorded minutes after the incident. A video of Eddy’s May 31 stage appearance in which he placed his hands on Baraboo School District Principal Dr. Rainey Briggs to prevent him from shaking Eddy’s daughter’s hand made headlines across the country, raising questions about whether his actions were racially motivated. Eddy and his daughter are white. Briggs is black. “I didn’t want him to be able to shake her (expletive) hand because he doesn’t deserve that from her,” Eddy tells Meyer, according to the video. According to the video, obtained by 12 News Investigates through Wisconsin’s public records law, Eddy does not mention Briggs’ race. “I’m not aware of any allegations that Dr. Briggs did anything to your daughter,” a district administrator who witnessed the conversation with Eddy and Meyer said in the video. “No, he wasn’t,” Eddy responds. Rather, he reveals that he was upset by what he perceived as an insult to his daughter in a previous meeting with district officials. He did not specify the incident that led to the meeting, but said the topic of the meeting was a possible expulsion. “He rolled his eyes when I brought up the fact that the same thing had happened to her, and that made me angry,” Eddy recalled in the video, referring to Briggs. “She was expelled from school for doing the same thing that was done to her, and nothing was done to the supervisors,” he said, without elaborating on the incident. The administrator and Meyer told Eddy there were better ways to handle any perceived complaint against Briggs or the district. “You can’t jump on stage right before graduation,” Meyer said. “You obviously know what would happen.” “Oh yeah, for sure,” Eddy replied. “We can’t do what we did today because think about how your daughter is feeling right now, man,” Meyer added. On June 6, Sauk County prosecutors charged Eddy with disturbing the peace. “Based on Matthew’s description of events, I believe he may have planned this in advance,” Meyer wrote in a police report. An attorney listed in court records for the case did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the arrest and Eddy’s claims in the video. Briggs has since filed for a restraining order against Eddy as well.” Matthew quickly approached the stage and put both hands on me to push me out of the way, saying, ‘You will not touch my (expletive) daughter,'” Briggs wrote in a statement, according to court documents. “Matthew then began to shove and pry me, and I again reached out my hands to keep Matthew away from me. This happened in front of 2,000 to 3,000 people. “I hope you repent,” Meyer tells Eddy in the video after the incident. “A little bit, for her sake,” Eddy responds. “I’m going to be embarrassed the minute I walk out of here.”