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Closter Dad Who Assaulted Teen Football Coach Has Teaching License Suspended

State education authorities suspended the teaching license for three years of a local dad and former Closter schools official who cursed out and put a 16-year-old in a headlock during a youth flag football game.

Peter Iappelli

Peter Iappelli

Photo Credit: MUGSHOT: Courtesy WESTWOOD PD

Former Closter Public Schools Business Administrator Peter Iappelli, 52, in 2017 was formally charged with simple assault and disorderly conduct after witnesses said he grabbed the teen coach -- the son of a Westwood councilman -- and put him in a headlock.

Following an investigation, the New Jersey Department of Education's State Board of Examiners suspended Iappelli's teaching license for three years.

"Iappelli’s conduct in using profanity in front of minors as young as six years old and being charged accordingly, clearly indicates a serious lapse in judgment," officials said in a statement.

"However, given his otherwise long unblemished record and his fulfillment of the sanctions imposed on him under the Conditional Dismissal program, the Board therefore concludes that the appropriate response to his breach is a three-year suspension of his certificates."

Iappelli got into a disagreement with the Assistant Pee Wee Jets Coach Phillip Bicocchi, who was filling in for the head coach on Yom Kippur, apparently over his son being moved from the quarterback position, witnesses told Daily Voice at the time.

The local dad made news in 2013 when he was charged with a DWI.

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