BARABOO, Wis. — New video appears to capture a portion of a homecoming-related incident last week in Baraboo that ended with three men being arrested and one of them later being charged.
Little can be seen in the roughly four-minute video, obtained by News 3 Now partner Madison365, due to the incident happening at night, but the group of men can be heard yelling profanities at a group of teenagers and ordering them out of a vehicle.
According to the Baraboo Police Department, the teens were involved in “homecoming-related activities” before the incident on Tandom Trail last Wednesday at around 10:30 p.m. One or all of the men reportedly had an issue with that.
A criminal complaint in the case against one of the men — John Kolar — said the teens were driving recklessly on Tandom Trail past a home that had recently been toilet-papered when the men confronted them and ordered them out of the vehicle.
As the teens drove by, Kolar allegedly shot a flame thrower into the air, the complaint alleges.
After ordering them out of the vehicle and onto the ground, the men questioned the teens and told them to leave the neighborhood.
Police later arrested the three men — Kolar, Baraboo School District Athletic Director Jim Langkamp and a third man; as of Wednesday, Kolar is the only one to be charged.
Langkamp, who the district said is on non-disciplinary administrative leave, told police he was involved in the confrontation until after the students had been forced out of the vehicle and that he tried to de-escalate the situation, according to the complaint. The students, though, told News 3 Now he was one of those who had stopped their vehicle.
“He was there and saw the dude with the flamethrower and he still, like, stopped the car knowing [Kolar] could have burned us with the flamethrower,” Teflon Lee, a senior inside the car, said. “He put us in danger that way.”
The teens and others have expressed concerns the incident may have been racially charged. Of the five students who were in the vehicle when they were stopped, four were students of color; while they say their white peer was allowed to stand after getting out of the vehicle, they were told to get on the ground.
The parents of three of the five students — all of whom are athletes — have filed restraining orders against Langkamp.
A roughly one-minute excerpt of the video — edited to remove profanity — can be viewed above; for the full video, visit Madison365 (viewer discretion is advised).
News 3 Now is naming two of the three men arrested in the case — Kolar and Langkamp — because Kolar has been charged with disorderly conduct and because of Langkamp’s role as a public figure as a district employee. Click here to learn more about the policy.
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