A dad has faced backlash after shoving a superintendent out of the way so that he couldn’t shake his daughter’s hand during her high school graduation.
Footage of the shocking incident, which took place on May 31 at Baraboo High School in Wisconsin, shows a young woman collecting her diploma and shaking hands with educators.
Once the woman approached Superintendent Rainey Briggs, her dad, Matthew Eddy, jumped on stage and grabbed Briggs by his arm, dragging him away from his daughter.
“That’s my daughter,” the outraged father reportedly said, per The Independent. “You better get up off me man,” Briggs responded as the two went off-camera.
Check out the moment below:School officials, including Baraboo police officers, intervened, according to local outlet WiscNews.
The clip went viral on social media and led to many community members condemning the father, and even saying that the act was racially motivated.
Baraboo School District spokesperson Hailey Wagner addressed the incident to WiscNews, revealing that they referred a disorderly conduct charge for Eddy to the Sauk County District Attorney’s Office.
“We would like to emphasize that the safety and well-being of our students, staff, and community members is a top priority,” Wagner added in a statement.
The father stated in a police interview, which emerged on social media this week, that the superintendent initiated the physical contact - a claim that the video of the graduation disproves.
He also spoke about the school excluding his daughter and blamed officials. However, the father, who is white, only targeted the one black administrator among several on the stage, leading many to believe that race was a factor.
Briggs told Daily Mail that he does not know whether the father was "racially motivated" but said: “The optics don’t look good...the optics are what people around the world have gotten to see.
"And it’s caused them to formulate in their minds what was behind this situation,” he continued. “But ultimately, Mr. Eddy is the only one that could tell you whether it was racial or not.
“It’s a predominantly white school district. Do I think it’s consisting of students of color feeling like they don’t belong here? I think there are some pockets of that, possibly," he added.
Briggs, who has filed a restraining order against Eddy, revealed that he only heard from the father's attorney.
“The outreach was really to indicate that he, [Eddy], understands his mishap in terms of what he did, what he’s caused. He’s remorseful.
“I took that as some form of apology, but that’s not something I think at this time amounts to a solid apology from my perspective,” he concluded.
While Eddy has not directly apologized, he told cops after the ceremony he felt sorry for the impact his actions had on his daughter.
Briggs also expressed his support to Eddy’s daughter and the other 250 graduating students, stating: “This is a moment in time for them that they’ll never get back the way they had hoped for this to go."
