TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Motorist, Firefighter Differ On Why Latter Was Slashed

ADVERTISEMENT

By JOSH POLTILOVE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 27, 2008

Off-duty firefighter Benjamin Harrison had followed erratic drivers before, but he said the driver he tailed for miles Tuesday afternoon was the worst he had seen.

Harrison called 911 to report the man. After watching the car swerve repeatedly, Harrison decided the man could kill someone if Harrison didn't take immediate action. The man stopped at a mobile home park, and Harrison took the man's keys and refused to give them back. That's when the man attacked him with a box cutter, Harrison said.

Harrison, 45, a driver-engineer from Valrico who has been with Hillsborough County Fire Rescue for 13 years, was taken by ambulance to St. Joseph's Hospital. He since has gone home.

"I feel in my heart that if I didn't take his keys, he would've definitely gotten into a wreck," Harrison said.

Richard Martin Bruneau said he did cut Harrison. Bruneau, however, disagrees with Harrison's version of events. He said he was sober and only was driving in the park. He said his girlfriend drove him there and that he was sitting in a parked car when Harrison attacked him for no reason. He said he cut Harrison in self-defense.

"He grabbed me in a choke hold, and he about killed me," Bruneau said.

Hillsborough County deputies support Harrison's version. They arrested Bruneau at 1:02 p.m. Tuesday, saying he had committed aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. Bruneau was released from jail at 12:36 a.m. today after posting $7,500 bail.

Harrison's 911 call is part of an ongoing investigation and was not available to the media today, sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway said

Deputies didn't test Bruneau's blood-alcohol level, Callaway said.

"There was just a discretionary choice by detectives not to do that," he said.

Harrison said he first noticed Bruneau about 12:40 p.m. Tuesday. Harrison, who was driving his personal vehicle, a Chevrolet Camaro, said Bruneau's Toyota was swerving on Valrico Road.

"He was just out of control," Harrison said. "I called 911 and said, 'He's either extremely drunk or he's diabetic and he's having a diabetic crisis.' I witnessed him run a traffic light at about 50 miles an hour, and he never slowed down. I said, 'He's going to kill somebody if I don't get him to stop.' "

Bruneau, 43, of 5455 Burgess Ave., Cocoa, stopped his car at the entrance to a mobile home park on Valrico Road, deputies say.

Harrison said he used a ruse to approach Bruneau. He got out of his car and told Bruneau that a big chunk of Bruneau's Toyota had fallen off.

When Bruneau went to the rear of his car to check, Harrison removed Bruneau's keys.

During the ensuing struggle, Bruneau slashed him, Harrison said.

"The blade was so sharp, I didn't even know he cut me," Harrison said. "He's struggling to get up. Then I noticed the blood. … When I realized I was cut, I let him up, and I was kind of in shock and freaking out."

Harrison said Bruneau went back to the Toyota – he's not sure why – and that it worried him. Harrison got out a gun to defend himself, he said. Tampa Tribune records confirm Harrison has a concealed weapons permit.

Bruneau still had the box cutter, and Harrison warned him he had a gun and fired one shot into the air, Harrison said.

Bruneau disagrees with Harrison's story.

He said he was sitting in the car in the parking lot, waiting for a niece who lives nearby, when Harrison attacked him for no reason. He said he works as a window tinter and carries a razor on his neck and used it to cut Harrison to protect himself.

Bruneau ran away after the fight, say deputies, who used a sheriff's helicopter to locate him.

Harrison had a severe laceration on his right leg, deputies say.

The hospital used 51 staples to close the wound. He does not have tendon or ligament damage but expects to miss four to six weeks of work.

In a separate incident Aug. 7, Bruneau was charged with driving under the influence, refusing to submit to testing and driving with a canceled, suspended or revoked license. He said he "wasn't totally drunk" that night. That case is pending.

Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at jpoltilove@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7691.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT