WESTWOOD, N.J.—The Closter dad and school business administrator who pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in 2017 after putting hands on a peewee football coach on Ketler Field at Westwood Middle School has just had his teaching license suspended for three years.
Peter Iappelli, now 52, had cursed out Assistant Jets Coach Phillip Bicocchi, then 16, who was filling in for the head coach, overseeing participants aged 6–8, and put him in a headlock.
Iappelli was accused as well of simple assault. That charge went by the wayside under the terms of conditional dismissal.
Iappelli’s son had just been rotated out as quarterback, leading to the Sept. 30 outburst, witnesses said. Bicocchi, the son of Westwood Borough Councilman Robert Bicocchi, wound up at the hospital with neck pain. He was released the same day.
The incident, which devolved from cursing and a bear hug, a Westwood detective said, reportedly unfolded in front of approximately 75 witnesses.
CBS2 reported that other parents had to pry Iappelli away and kick him off the field.
Robert Bicocchi had characterized the situation to the Pascack Press as “a sad day and a traumatizing time. This was a horrific event.”
In his statement to police, Phillip said in part, “I had trouble breathing and was afraid that he was going to hurt me very badly. I told the ref about what happened and Mr. Iappelli was asked to leave the fields since he was the one who put me in a chokehold.”
Indeed, the North Jersey NFL Flag Football League banned Iappelli and his family from games for life, and the league commissioner worried the incident would devastate the program.
In a prompt letter to League Commissioner Fred Kritzer, a volunteer, Iappelli wrote, “I want to apologize for my unacceptable behavior at today’s game. You run an unbelievable program and you don’t need people like me ruining it… I am truly sorry and I regret how I behaved today.”
On Aug. 28, asked for his reaction to Iappelli’s teaching suspension, Bicocchi said only “Our family as a whole to this day still copes with this unfortunate incident.”
The Closter Board of Education moved to oust Iappelli from his job, a position he held since 2007 and in which he was tenured in 2010. He was drawing $171,136 in salary.
The board asserted a variety of provocations for pulling Iappelli’s tenure, with some allegations dating “possibly to 2011,” a filing said. Not all of them were dismissed following Iappelli’s motion to do so.
Following its investigation, the New Jersey Department of Education said in August that “Iappelli’s conduct in using profanity in front of minors as young as 6 years old, and being charged accordingly, clearly indicates a serious lapse in judgment.”
It added, “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.”
At the North Jersey NFL Flag Football League, which has since lost its home at Ketler as the Westwood Regional School District greatly expands the regional middle school, many youngsters 6–12 were given their first taste of football fundamentals: running, throwing, and catching.
“We want the kids to get their exercise rather than play video games. We don’t keep records or have a formal playoff system,” Kritzer told Pascack Press at the time.
“The philosophy is to allow the players to attend their games, and have a good time with their friends, teammates, and families. Our games are competitive but they are not the most important part of their weekends,” he added.
Philip, a Don Bosco student—now a senior—had stepped up to assume head coaching duties in the absence of the team’s coach on Yom Kippur.
Kritzer said he “did an incredible job of composing himself in what was truly outrage by an out-of-control adult.”
A reporter asked Iappelli as he turned himself in at Westwood police headquarters on Oct. 4, 2017, “Did you put him in a chokehold?”
Iappelli, in a red shirt and blue jeans, and walking behind his attorney, Brian Neary of Hackensack, remained silent.
Public records show Iappelli was charged with DWI in Norwood in early 2013 after an incident at Rockleigh Country Club. He pleaded guilty to reckless driving in exchange for paying a fine and temporarily losing his driver’s license.