The Queens gym teacher who threw the punch seen round the world — an MTV reality-show right cross that KO’d a young woman — told The Post yesterday he was so knocked out on booze that he has no memory of his loutish conduct.
The educator said that after the beatdown, but before he was re moved from his school and placed in a “rubber room” for suspended teachers, he used his own bad behavior as a lesson to his students — to warn them what can happen with alco hol. Brad Ferro, 24, said the first time he saw himself slug “Jersey Shore” cast member Nic ole “Snooki” Po lizzi, 21, in a Jer sey Shore bar was when a prose cutor played him the video.
“When I saw the video, I was sick to my stomach,” said Ferro, who had never been arrested before.
“I couldn’t believe that I’d ever do anything like that. I was raised to act in a respectful manner to women.
“I remember very little from the time of the incident,” Ferro said yesterday at his lawyer’s office in Bay Shore, LI.
“It’s all fuzzy. I remember a punch — I don’t remember who or why and I remember being arrested.”
The lawyer, Andrew Siben, said: “I think Brad should be given a second chance to show he is a person of much higher character than has been shown on this video.
“I think he’s a decent young man who, unfortunately, made a bad decision which has come back to haunt him” and may end his career, said Siben.
Ferro also wanted to apologize to the woman he punched and said he hopes she forgives him. “I’m very sorry for what happened,” he told her.
“I deeply regret what happened. Nobody deserves that. That was not the real Brad Ferro.”
Ferro, of Deer Park, said he was out with a former college pal and two other friends last August and “drank way too much” before the MTV “Jersey Shore” crew arrived.
“It was a friendly atmosphere,” said Ferro, who wishes the bar had thrown him out before the incident.
“It seemed like they were filming something but they never explained to me what it was.”
He said he does not remember signing any legal release for the film crew.
Ferro said he’s “saddened” that he may lose his job. “I love teaching,” he said.
He said he will complete his court-ordered anger-management course and hopes the school system gives him a second chance.
Ferro was found guilty of assault in the Aug. 19 incident, where he knocked his victim to the floor at the Beachcomber Bar & Grill in Seaside Heights.
Meanwhile, Snooki, looking none the worse for her experience, made a brief appearance on Jay Leno’s show last night in a parody quiz program, but didn’t talk about the assault.