A Wisconsin man could face a disorderly conduct charge for rushing the stage during a high school graduation ceremony to stop his daughter from shaking the superintendent’s hand.
TV43 Baraboo streamed the ceremony at Baraboo High School on May 31. A viral clip of the incident that drew more than four million views on X showed a female graduate walking the stage.
The moment she starts shaking hands with school board members and administrators is when her father, a white man, storms the stage, grabs Superintendent Dr. Rainey Briggs, who is Black, and pushes him away.
Viewers can hear Briggs protesting in the background.
“You better get him off me, man,” Briggs said. “Get away from me, bro.”
Meanwhile, district officials watched the encounter in confusion before two off-duty police officers and a school resource officer intervened. The man’s daughter looks visibly upset before leaving the stage.
“That’s my daughter,” the man is heard saying on the video. “I don’t want her touching him.”
Graduates and onlookers cheered as police led the man off the stage. Officers escorted the man out of the venue.
In a statement to Atlanta Black Star, the School District of Baraboo said there is an “active investigation into the matter” and that the district is “working very closely with law enforcement to ensure a thorough investigation.”
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