Former NHLer living on the streets and may be near death

After spending 130 games in the NHL as an enforcer, according to his father Walter, Stephen Peat is now living in the streets of British Columbia and could be near death as he suffers from symptoms common to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, otherwise known as CTE, which is a type of concussion related brain injury.

After Stephan Peat's hockey career ended, his father started to see a change in his son's behaviour as he was unable to stay focused which was bizarre for man that had the patience to rebuild a motorcycle engine by himself.

His forgetfulness, his deterioration in his mindset, it slowly changed to the point where, right now, he's just a very different person, Peat's father Walter stated.

Because of Stephen's lack of focus it caused the family's home to be burnt down as he reportedly got distracted by a phone call while he was working with a blow torch on that fateful day. Peat was eventually charged with arson by negligence and he pleaded guilty. He was sentenced a year of probation.

Things haven't gotten better for the former enforcer as Peat breached the terms of his probation multiple times and was sent to prison. Walter needed to get a court ordered restraining order against him after times where things got violent. Walter is also afraid as there is no one to take care of his son as he states that his son is using drugs and could be near death.

Due to the restraining order, Walter only gets updates now and then, and when he received a call from an old friend, his heart sank.

He told me that he'd heard that Stephen was in downtown Langley, walking around, covered in blood, his pants around his ankles, Peat said. I thought holy shit. Someone's either beat him up or he's close to death. 

Walter is worried that his son may end up like other former enforcers such as Rick Rypien or Wade Belak, which means that suicide is one of his biggest concerns as he recalls that when Stephen gets upset, he gets frustrated and says things like "I'm gonna go kill myself."