NJ school biology teacher loses job for violent hammer attack

🔨 Biology teacher's certificate revoked

🔨 Accused of ramming cars on purpose

🔨 Admitted to bashing victim with hammer

TENAFLY — A former biology teacher is no longer allowed to teach in New Jersey after having his teaching certificate revoked.

The state Board of Examiners revoked 38-year-old Christopher R. Icochea's teaching certificate for biology in a finalized decision in late June.

According to the decision, Icochea backed into one vehicle on purpose and then rammed another vehicle.

Icochea then hit a victim on the head with a hammer, the report said. He pleaded guilty to third-degree aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on June 13, 2023.

Details of teacher's hammer attack unclear

It was unclear from the board's report where or when the attack happened.

A search of criminal convictions in New Jersey found no records of Icochea's plea. The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office had no record of the plea either.

However, court records from Superior Court in Bergen County showed the attack happened on April 22, 2023. They also revealed that Icochea was ordered in family court to have no contact with three victims and that he was barred from a home in Bergenfield.

Icochea was ordered for transport on May 6, 2024 from Bergen County Jail to a facility that serves people struggling with addiction or mental health issues.

Where did he teach?

It's also unclear from the decision where Icochea taught.

A high school biology teacher in Tenafly with the same name resigned effective Jan. 18, 2021, more than two years before the hammer attack, according to minutes from a Tenafly school board meeting.

A Tenafly Public Schools spokesperson on vacation through Wednesday did not immediately return a request for information.

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