met with a swift reaction from the National Italian American Foundation, the National Organization of Italian American Women, UNICO National and other community-based groups. Beachcomber Bar & Grill incident In August 2009, female cast member Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi was punched in the face after a confrontation with a man who had allegedly stolen her drink at the Beachcomber Bar & Grill in Seaside Heights. The assailant, Brad Ferro, a physical education teacher from Deer Park, New York, was arrested on simple assault and disorderly conduct charges. A promo of the clip aired after the show's December 3, 2009, premiere and circulated on the Internet. The incident would have aired on the December 17 episode, along with a public service announcement against violence towards women. Polizzi suffered bruises and swelling as a result of the punch. As soon as the footage was aired on the season sneak-peek on MTV, Ferro was suspended from both of his positions at North Queens Community High School and the Middle Village School in Queens. After a short time, he was placed in one of the Department of Education's teacher reassignment centers. The Department of Education eventually fired Ferro. Subsequently, he had such a hard time getting a job that he ended up enlisting in the army. Ferro has since apologized to Polizzi stating, "I deeply regret what happened. Nobody deserves that. That was not the real Brad Ferro." Ferro later pleaded guilty to a nonindictable offense in municipal court. He was found guilty of simple assault, fined $500 and given a 6-month suspended jail sentence. Ferro's father feels that his son was provoked into "doing something stupid", saying, "When you get a bunch of people in a situation with alcohol and instigate, someone's going to do something stupid, and that's obviously what MTV wants." After the clip of Polizzi's incident was aired after the first and second episodes, MTV decided to omit the footage from the December 17 episode calling it "extremely disturbing". The clip shown in the preview for the episode in which Snooki gets punched can be seen on news sites that reported the incident prior to the episode being shown. Arrest of Ronnie Ortiz-Magro Cast member Ronald "Ronnie" Ortiz-Magro was arrested after a fight occurred on September 4, 2009, on the boardwalk in Seaside Heights, for aggravated assault for striking Stephen Izzo with a closed fist. Izzo lost consciousness as a result.