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Man faces charge of manslaughter

Ted Brunter, held on a battery charge, faces a new charge in the death of Brian Vivier.

By THOMAS LAKE
Published October 5, 2006

PORT RICHEY - Brian Vivier left home about 10 years ago, trading life with his wife and daughter for the unfettered right to drink Budweiser.

His daughter, Kristy, was 11 then, and he'd given her a golden charm necklace that said something like Daddy's Little Princess. She missed him. Maybe he missed her, too, but he'd made his choice.

He gave up structure for freedom, housing for wandering and, in the end, familial love for blows from a stranger.

For it was on the streets that Vivier met a man named Ted Brunter, and authorities say it was Brunter who beat him to death.

Authorities haven't said what started their quarrel. But a Pasco County sheriff's report says that about 10 p.m. Sept. 27, on a stretch of U.S. 19 just south of the Gulf View Square Mall, near a gathering place for the local homeless, Brunter, 43, assailed Vivier, 48, this way: He punched him several times in the face and then stomped on his chest.

The report says Brunter came away with blood on his hands, jeans and boots. It says he boasted to a witness about beating someone. Vivier suffered broken ribs and a fractured skull. Authorities say he died four days later from internal bleeding.

By then, Brunter was already in jail on a charge of simple battery. On Tuesday, the state added a new charge: manslaughter.

He was held Wednesday at the Land O'Lakes jail in lieu of $100,500 bail. If convicted, he could spend up to 15 years in prison. Sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll said he wasn't charged with murder because the state may have trouble proving he meant to kill.

Vivier's daughter wants people to know the crime was more than just one homeless man against another.

"He didn't just kill some other guy on the street," said Kristy Vivier, now 22 and living in New Port Richey. "He killed somebody's father. Somebody's grandfather."

His life disintegrated after he left. His hair grew out, and his cheeks sank in. Sometimes his daughter went months without hearing his voice.

"And then he would call," she said, "and we'd be happy to hear from him, because he was okay; he was still alive."

Two years ago, Kristy Vivier gave birth to a son, Christian. Her father showed up to see his grandson, bearing a stuffed lion. He took the boy in his arms and shook with happiness. He cried.

Weeks before Vivier's death, his daughter considered asking him to come and live with her in New Port Richey, in a three-bedroom house on a dead-end road. But she doubted he would accept.

Now he has no choice. She is scraping money together to cremate his body and buy an urn for the ashes. She will keep it near a collage of family pictures, all she has left of her father, finally home for good.

Thomas Lake can be reached at tlake@sptimes.com or 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6245.

[Last modified October 4, 2006, 22:59:56]