The drunken lout seen sucker-punching a “Jersey Shore” hottie in a video clip gone viral is a New York City public-school teacher, The Post has learned.
And the sudden right cross flooding the Internet has earned Queens gym teacher Brad Ferro a technical knockout — he’s been moved out of class and into one of the Department of Education’s teacher-reassignment centers, also known as “rubber rooms,” agency officials confirmed.
Ferro, 24, of Deer Park, LI, was arrested in late August for punching out Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi at the Beachcomber Bar & Grill in Seaside Heights, according to local police.
PHOTOS: ‘JERSEY SHORE’S’ GUIDOS AND GUIDETTES
The brutish smackdown was featured in a video clip promoting MTV’s new reality show “Jersey Shore,” on which Polizzi is featured.
Ferro, a teacher at North Queens Community HS, was initially told to lay off the booze by bouncers at the popular beach bar because he seemed too drunk, Seaside Heights Detective Steve Korman told The Post.
Ferro managed to stay inside the bar and eventually swiped shots belonging to Polizzi and her entourage that had been placed on the bar top.
“That started a verbal altercation, after which he struck her in the face,” Korman said. “She sustained an injury to the inside of her mouth due to the punch.”
In fact, the video shows Ferro suddenly walloping Polizzi in the jaw, sending the 21-year-old beauty reeling backward.
Ferro was arrested on assault and disorderly conduct charges shortly after 2 a.m. on Aug. 19.
He has since been found guilty of the simple assault charge, hit with a $500 fine and remanded to anger-management class, according to Korman. Ferro also got a six-month suspended jail term provided he stays out of trouble.
At his Deer Park home yesterday, Ferro’s dad, Dan, said his son’s memory of the event was hazy but added that Ferro felt awful for having bashed a woman.
“It’s horrible — he feels horrible. He doesn’t understand how that could happen,” Dan Ferro told The Post. “He’s horrified by it. He’s not exactly sure what transpired.”
But the elder Ferro also insisted that his son was goaded into lashing out.
“The woman instigated my son, and he ended up doing something stupid because he was intoxicated,” he said. “From what I could see, it was more of a ‘get away from me’ type of thing. He was trying to get away from her, and she kept coming toward him.”
“Jersey Shore,” which debuted last week, has been taking heat from Italian-American groups for its stereotyping of Italian youths as bimbos and buffoons. MTV announced yesterday it was pulling the word “guido” from all its promos.