Man who disrupted Wisconsin graduation ceremony told police he didn’t like school principal, police report says

The man who disrupted a Wisconsin high school graduation ceremony by storming the stage and preventing the school’s principal from shaking his daughter’s hand said he disliked the principal and wanted to prevent him from having “the satisfaction” of shaking her hand, according to a police report.

Matthew Eddy spoke to police at Baraboo High School last Friday night after he approached Baraboo School Superintendent Rainey Briggs at the high school’s graduation ceremony and led him out of a line of principals who greeted graduates as they received their diplomas that evening, police said.

According to a police report, Eddy said he and his daughter had “had problems in the past” with Briggs and did not like him.

The incident report has provided the only public insight into a possible motive. Eddy did not return repeated requests for comment this week. Briggs, reached by phone Friday, declined to answer questions. Neither has commented publicly on the matter.

A school resource officer who spoke with Eddy said in the report that while Eddy admitted to going on stage to prevent Briggs from shaking his daughter’s hand, he “did not necessarily detail how he physically prevented them” from interacting and responded “vaguely” to questions. The school resource officer also said he told Eddy that his behavior was unacceptable and could have been handled in a more appropriate manner.

“Matthew was told that his behavior disrupted the graduation for everyone and likely drew unnecessary attention to his daughter,” the police report states.

When asked if he regretted his actions, Eddy reportedly told the officer that he was doing it, but only for his daughter’s sake. The officer concluded that “perhaps he had planned this in advance.”

The police report states that Briggs left the school grounds immediately after the graduation ceremony.

The school resource officer spoke to Briggs by phone on Monday and said in the report that the principal said he did not know who Eddy was when he approached him. Briggs told the officer that Eddy’s daughter had been expelled from school once, the report said, but he had no direct contact with parents regarding expulsions and could not recall any other conversations with Eddy or any reason why Eddy reacted as he did.

Briggs also told the officer that he planned to seek a restraining order against Eddy, which was granted this week. In the restraining order, filed Monday in Dane County District Court, Eddy was ordered not to have any contact with Briggs. A hearing is scheduled for June 14.

In his motion for the order, Briggs says Eddy “quickly came up to the stage and put both hands on me, shoving me out of the way while saying, ‘You will not touch my f***ing daughter.'” Briggs said he then “created space” and told Eddy to get his hands off of him, the motion says. Briggs says Eddy began “pushing and prying” him, and he held out his hands to keep Eddy away from him, the motion says.

Briggs told an officer, according to the report, that Eddy’s behavior “frightened” him because it followed “numerous threats” he received as superintendent. The report does not elaborate on those threats.

The video of Eddy approaching Briggs was widely shared on the Internet. Although four school board members and the school’s principal were also on stage, Eddy only confronted Briggs.

The school district said it takes the “unfortunate incident” seriously and is working closely with local law enforcement to ensure a thorough investigation.

The Baraboo School Board said in a statement that it does not tolerate “threatening, intimidating or physically harmful behavior toward anyone in our school district community.”

“That this adult felt emboldened to behave in this way in front of hundreds of students and other adults should be deeply troubling to all of us; such behavior will not be tolerated,” the school board said, adding that it “condemns such actions and calls on the community to take a stand and speak out against such behavior that threatens the fabric of our democracy.”

Located 40 miles northwest of Madison, Baraboo has a population of less than 13,000. According to the most recent census data, 90.4% of residents are white.