Embattled Penn State frat adviser resigns

Tim Bream, the Pennsylvania State University athletic trainer who was the Beta Theta Pi fraternity's live-in adviser when 19-year-old Tim Piazza died a year ago from injuries sustained after being hazed, has resigned from his job at the university, a school spokesman said Friday.

"Tim Bream has notified us of his intention to resign his position, effective the end of this month. We appreciate Tim's contributions to Penn State athletics and his commitment to the care of our student-athletes and their success. We wish Tim success in his future endeavors," Penn State spokesman Jeff Nelson said in an email.

Bream, 57, has said he was asleep in his room in the Beta Theta Pi house during the night of Feb. 2 and 3, 2017, when Piazza, a sophomore from New Jersey, went through a pledging gauntlet of alcohol drinking and later suffered fatal injuries when he twice fell down the basement steps.

Though Bream was not charged like 28 fraternity members were in the criminal case in Piazza's death, Piazza's family, several defense attorneys, and a civil attorney for a Beta alumnus who funded the renovation of the fraternity house all have said Bream bears some responsibility for the events that led to Piazza's death.

Neither Bream nor his attorney could immediately be reached Friday.