Editor’s note: This story contains graphic details that may be disturbing for some people.
Several vehicles, including buses and even three bicyclists, went past on a Miami street as a naked man chewed the face off a homeless man Saturday in what has been called a zombie-like attack, video footage posted by the Miami Herald shows.
The footage, taken by security cameras on the Herald building in downtown Miami, shows the entire 18-minute attack, which ended when a police officer shot the attacker after he did not stop his assault on the homeless man.
The video quality is poor, and facial details and the gore of the scene are not visible. But the movements of those involved are. The shooting itself is obscured by the bridge that carries Miami's Metromover tramway over the site of the attack on the MacArthur Causeway.
It's not clear how much of the attack motorists could have seen, as there is a waist-high concrete barrier between the road and the sidewalk where the attack took place, but one of the bicyclists passed on the sidewalk, and one driver slowed down to look at the scene.
The footage shows that attacker, identified by Miami-Dade Police as Rudy Eugene, 31, walking along the sidewalk and then stopping in a shaded area created by the tramway bridge. He apparently attacks the victim, dragging him out from the shade, stripping the victim's clothes off and then beating him as the victim kicks his legs in an apparent attempt to fight back.
The attacker then spends several minutes crouched over the victim, including when a bicyclist rolls by on the sidewalk and a white sedan rolls very slowly past the scene.
Police said at least five of those passers-by called to the report the incident, according to the Miami Herald report accompanying the video.
When a patrol car arrives, the officer appears to draw his gun quickly, but the actual shooting is blocked by the tramway overpass.
Larry Vega witnessed the attack and spoke to CNN affiliate WSVN.
"The guy just kept eating the other guy away, like ripping his skin. It was just a blob of blood," he told WSVN.
The arrival of police did not deter the attacker, Fraternal Order of Police President Armando Aguilar told CNN affiliate WPLG.
"When the officer approached him, told him to stop, pointed a gun at him, he turned around and growled like a wild animal and kept eating at the man's face," Aguilar was quoted as saying by WPLG.
Augilar said he suspects that the attacker was under the influence of "bath salts," a drug that contains synthetic stimulants that can "cause chest pains, increased blood pressure, increased heart rate, agitation, hallucinations, extreme paranoia, and delusions," according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse.
Four other instances of drug use in Miami-Dade bear resemblances to Saturday's attack, Aguilar told WPLG.
Why 'bath salts' are dangerous
Sgt. Javier Ortiz, vice president of the Miami Fraternal Order of Police, said officials won't know for certain whether drugs played a role in the attack until toxicology reports are completed in a month or so. But he said police have been seeing increased incidents of drug-induced crime in the area.
Ortiz said the victim was in critical condition at a local hospital. He could not say whether the victim and attacker knew each other.
The Herald reported that the victim's nose, face and eyes were torn off during the attack.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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The policeman was in the right.
Read up on the story of the homeless man, as he's been identified, and man, life just kicks you when you're down sometimes.
Drugs are a hell of a drug and have been causing people to act like lunatics and animals since humans have ever started experimenting with substances natural and artificial.
Just because crimes like this happen everyone gets all scared prapaganda to control the simple social media masses
Time to stack up on ammunition I think
I don't understand why the cops had to use deadly force in this case. The guy was naked. couldn't they have just beaten the crap out of him with clubs and tazered him?
If bath salts are like PCP, this naked dude probably could have withstood quite a bit and probably could have overpowered the officer.
Yeah, I don't think anybody wants to get close to enough to someone who is eating and ripping at the flesh on someone else's face. Too much blood. It's too dangerous.
You have got to be joking....
Are you nuts YES I would have done the same thing police officer did he was attaching innocent human being Thanks to all officers protecting us from sick pathetic losers!
are u kidding? He was eating another guys face? That definitly is means for deadly force expecially if the guy was high on a new drug that is considered like meth, ecstacy , or PCP. Usually while on these drugs, they dont feel as much pain as they should . He wasnt going to stop
No...they shoot people who are carrying screwdrivers. This guy was growling like a dog with an eyeball hanging out of his mouth.
your kidding, right?
You don't understand why the police had to use deadly force? "When the officer approached him, told him to stop, pointed a gun at him, he turned around and growled like a wild animal and kept eating at the man's face." So, this guy is, by all accounts, in the process of killing another human and refuses to stop despite police orders, and you think deadly force was unjustified? You made me laugh out loud.
Because police understand that most people don't want people that attack and chew off other people's faces, in our society. That the majority of us prefer guys like this to end up with a bullet in their head and not using up our oxygen...ever again!
I couldn't be a police officer. But they did the right thing by killing this drugged up fool. I don't understand why anyone would want someone to live who is actually eating another human being. America we're soft! By the way his mom and girlfriend sound crazy. Where was his Bible when he was making a meal out of the homeless man?
They shot him once and he didn't stop chewing the guy's face off.
I think that deadly force WAS necessary.
How would you have reacted if the man turned to you with flesh hanging from his mouth and growling...I think the police did his job...I wouldn't have hesitated to fill him with lead 8 shots center mass. And let's not forget had they tazed him and beat the hell out of him it would have been considered police brutality.
I feel bad for the poor man in ICU, the one w/o a face.
Mother of three
If you didn't listen to the video, then you missed the cop talking about other incidents where these whacked out dudes take baton strikes, Tazer shots, and keep on going. One case he mentions required multiple cops to physically subdued one of the strung out individuals.
So you show up on the scene, first guy, all by your lonesome and you see a situation where some mad man is eating a guy in the street. Knowing what you know are you going to physically engage with the manster or do what you have to do and hopefully save a life. Wait for backup? Yeah, tell me that one again when you've got some hopped up junkie eating your face off.
A medal and the key to the city for the cop. Charge Rudy Eugene's estate for the bullets they had to put him down.
All I have to say is, you never know, be prepared, what if this zombie apocalypse is real, even if not, keep posted on this...
I agree!
Also, everyone check out ufc jared wyatt. I have to say thats as close to this as you can get and in the same time frame? Really freaky. I'm gonna go work on my Bug out bag!
It's not too often a face gets eaten off, and a pro mma fighter did it also in the same time frame? Super creepy. Check this link out if you don't believe me.... http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20007940-504083.html
The big question did it take a head shot to drop him. Taser's have no effect on zombies.
That was my first question too.
google the bible verse then ask someone who knows the bible to explain it to you either way it is a very sad day when this travisty happens to the human race........ matters not where. It is an absolute travisty.
its like call of duty black ops zombies but in real life..................................................scary
You got that RIGHT!!!!
Extremely insensitive and irresponsible for any news outlet to refer to the attacker as 'zombie.'
Perhaps he shouldn't have freaking eaten someone's face off then? Maybe if it hadn't taken multiple shots to down him?
As it is, I can't imagine a more appropriate word.
In 3 months this will be forgotten about just like when the world was gonna end.. everyone was all freaking out and now people could careless
Nobody believes in real "zombies" right? So, by my count there were at least 5 patrol cars on scene. This is not Hollywood or the wild west, in America we're supposed to have a right to due process. Just because a person seems mentally ill or his crimes are particularly heinous does not mean that he can be shot with deadly force. I care not for this guy or his life. If it were up to me I'd say, 'kill 'em all,' but it's not and it's not up to one officer to decide either. Hasn't anyone wondered why he was given the okay to shoot to kill when there were enough officers on the scene to subdue him? I mean did they even try? Yes, no one would want to but it's an officer's job to. You don't become a cop because it's safe or easy. There is something being covered up here. Information is being witheld. If you are one of the people who are too close minded to believe or too dense to see, you are a future Zombie son! ...and maybe I'll see you next year at the end of a barrel (wink) When we get the okay to shoot to kill. Chaos is coming!
If shooting him didn't work I don't think jumping on him would work either.
I'll tell you what, I'll compromise. If the police ever catch me eating someone's face, they can go ahead and shoot me. No hard feelings.
Maybe the Zombie felt threatened and decided to put use to the "Stand Your Ground" law.
Well anything you do in life, if you don't pay for it your children will. this guy father Vi is a serial killer, voodo priest type. he had killed many people in a lil contry side from haiti cap-haitian call (galman) that man used to berry people in the field and hide them under banana tree. and the type of spirit his father worship made him eat anything was found in the field. now same spirit got into him to finish the contract.