A Wisconsin school superintendent took out a restraining order against a man who was just charged with disorderly conduct for shoving the district leader to prevent him from shaking his daughter’s hand during her high school graduation ceremony.
Michael Eddy had to be escorted out of Baraboo High School during the May 31 ceremony after he pushed Superintendent Dr. Rainey Briggs in full view of graduates and their families.
Video from a livestream of the ceremony captured the moment Eddy stormed the stage and pushed Briggs just as his daughter began walking toward a line of district officials.
Two off-duty police officers and a school resource officer had to restrain Eddy and lead him out of the school venue. He was charged with disorderly conduct for the incident.
An officer determined the push was “pre-planned” during an investigation.
According to a police report obtained by WMTV 15 News, Eddy told police that he and his child “have had past issues with Rainey and dislike him.” During the ceremony, Eddy “wanted to prevent Rainey from having the satisfaction of shaking” his daughter’s hand, “so he went onto the stage to prevent that from happening.”
Police also interviewed Dr. Briggs, who told them he didn’t know who Eddy was until a few days after the ceremony. He said Eddy’s daughter had been disciplined in school once, but he never met or interacted with her or Eddy.
Briggs said he had no idea why Eddy “reached the way he did.”
Briggs also told officers that when he returned to the stage after Eddy pushed him, he was constantly monitoring the crowd out of fear and anxiety that someone else would “come after him.”
Police said Eddy expressed remorse for his actions solely for his daughter’s sake, not Briggs’.
A judge also approved a temporary restraining order that forbids Eddy from contacting Briggs.
In a petition Briggs filed for the order, he wrote that Eddy “approached the stage quickly and put both of his hands on me to push me out of the way stating ‘you are not going to touch my f****** daughter.’”
Briggs stated that he “created space” in an effort to separate himself from Eddy and told Eddy, “Get your hands off me.” Briggs said Eddy then tried to “push and pry” at him and that he put his hands out to keep Eddy away.
Many people accused Eddy, a white man, of racism for preventing his daughter from making contact with Briggs, who appeared to be the only Black person on the graduation stage. The police report does not cite racial motivation as a factor in the incident.
The Baraboo School District condemned the incident in a statement.
“What we do not condone is engaging in threatening, intimidating, or physically harming behaviors against anyone in our School District community. No employee of the School District of Baraboo should fear for their physical safety when fulfilling their job duties or at any other time,” the statement reads.
“That this adult felt emboldened to behave 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 School District of Baraboo Board of Education condemns such actions and asks the community to take a stand and speak out against this type of behavior that threatens the fabric of our democracy.”
