The Wisconsin father who took the stage at his daughter’s high school graduation to stop her from shaking the superintendent’s hand detailed the exchange that infuriated him.
Matt Eddy, 49, interrupted the Baraboo High School ceremony on May 31 as his daughter was about to receive her diploma and pushed Superintendent Rainey Briggs aside.
The father was escorted out of the building after the confrontation and arrested for disorderly conduct.
Video of his police interview obtained by DailyMail.com showed Eddy stating that he felt Briggs belittled his daughter during a meeting and that he was not worthy of shaking her hand.
“I didn’t want him to be able to shake his damn hand because he didn’t deserve it after all the shit he went through in this district,” Eddy said.
Matt Eddy, 49, told police he stopped his daughter from shaking Superintendent Rainey Briggs’ hand because he disparaged her during a meeting.
The father claimed it was Briggs who initiated the physical contact, however, surveillance footage shows he touched the superintendent when he jumped on stage.
“The way he acted when my daughter was accused, almost accused, was a load of shit… he shook his head and rolled his damn eyes.”
“It doesn’t seem right to me to shake my daughter’s hand after treating her like that,” he said.
It’s unclear what incident Eddy’s daughter was involved in, but she alluded to some problems with other students that led to her expulsion and a legal battle.
‘She was expelled for doing the same thing they did to her… there was a meeting with him,’ Eddy said.
“I was rolling my eyes when I brought up the fact that the same thing had been done to her and it bothered me because we’re in the middle of a court case.”
The father claimed he simply jumped on stage to prevent his daughter from shaking the superintendent’s hand and that it was Briggs who initiated the physical contact.
“I didn’t touch him until he touched me,” he said.
However, surveillance footage shows that when Eddy jumped on stage, he grabbed Briggs by the arm and walked him to the curtain.
Eddy denied pre-planning the episode and told police he even left when Briggs gave his speech.
Eddy said that during a meeting her daughter had with Briggs, the superintendent rolled his eyes and shook his head when she mentioned what another student had done to her.
“I didn’t want him to be able to shake her damn hand because he didn’t deserve it after all the shit he went through in this district,” Eddy told police.
At the beginning of the nearly two-minute-long interaction, Eddy is seen with his arms crossed and pacing the stands.
As his daughter moved forward in the procession, Eddy ran in front of the stage, applauded his daughter and then jumped up the steps to catch up with Briggs.
After pulling the superintendent back, the two men exchange words and then Briggs shoves Eddy.
That’s when Baraboo High School Principal Steve Considine, seen in a tan jacket, inserts himself between the two men.
“When I heard Dr. Briggs say something like ‘get your hands off me…’ that’s when I turned my head and saw there was some kind of fight going on,” Considine said.
“That’s when I stepped forward and got between Dr. Briggs and this guy, Mr. Eddie, I don’t know his name, and then he was pushing me back.”
“If he had just run away, I wouldn’t need him, but he was definitely backing away almost like he was trying to get to Dr. Briggs.”
Eddy was escorted out of the building after the confrontation and arrested for disorderly conduct.
The father told police his daughter had been involved in trouble at school and felt Briggs’ reaction was disrespectful since they are in some type of legal battle.
Several others join in to break up the confrontation and Eddy hides behind the stage curtain.
“(We) cornered him so he couldn’t really go anywhere so he tried to lift the curtain, there were gymnastics mats underneath so he ran out,” Considine said.
‘I was very angry. It is a special ceremony for a special night. Dr. Briggs didn’t deserve that, the student didn’t deserve that, we have a lot of people in the gym, he was very frustrated.’
“The guy was very aggressive, it was disgusting behavior,” he said.
Briggs filed a restraining order against Eddy and Dane County Circuit Court Commissioner J. Alberto Quiroga has since temporarily ordered Eddy to have no contact with Briggs until a June 14 hearing.
In his restraining order, Briggs stated that Eddy said he “is not going to touch my (expletive) daughter.” Wisconsin News reports.
The superintendent told police he did not know who the man was at the time.
He said he knew of one case in which Eddy’s daughter had been disciplined by the school, but that he had nothing to do with it, insisting that he “has no idea why Eddy came in that way.”
Briggs and the school board have come under fire from a group of angry residents.
They are currently trying to unseat school board president Kevin Vodak, who was at the graduation.
Vodak has been accused of favoritism and offering inadequate salaries and support to teachers.
Briggs (pictured) filed a restraining order against Eddy and they were ordered to have no contact until a hearing on June 14.
Baraboo High School Principal Steve Considine (pictured) said he was concerned for Briggs’ safety and when he stepped between the two men, Eddy was pushing back.
Briggs has come under fire for his pay and that of other administrators, while contracts awarded to his consulting firms have also come under scrutiny.
Critics also noted high staff turnover during his tenure and student behavior problems.
The school district said in a statement: ‘Our primary focus remains celebrating the achievements of our graduates.
“We want to ensure that the importance of this milestone and the hard work of our students is not overshadowed by this unfortunate event.”
The district added that they are working with authorities.
“We would like to emphasize that the safety and well-being of our students, staff and community members is a top priority…The Baraboo School District is taking this incident very seriously.”
