The mother of Rudy Eugene, who was shot and killed by a police officer as he chewed the face off a homeless man in Miami, says her son was "a nice kid" who could have been subdued with a Taser rather than gunfire.
"He was a good kid. He gave me a nice card on Mother’s Day. Everyone says he was a zombie. He was no zombie. That was my son,” the mother, who asked that her name not be revealed, told CNN affliate WFOR.
'Zombie apocalypse' trending as bad news spreads quickly
Eugene, 31, was killed by a police officer on Saturday after an 18-minute attack on a homeless man, identified by police as 65-year-old Ronald Poppo. Video of the incident shows Eugene coming across Poppo on a sidewalk along Miami's MacArthur Causeway, stripping clothes off him and eventually chewing on his face.
Police said Poppo lost 75% of his face in the attack. He was in critical condition at a Miami hospital.
Eugene's mother said police didn't need to shoot her son.
"They could have tased him," she told WFOR. "I saw what happened on TV and I started crying.”
Eugene's girlfriend, who also requested anonymity from WFOR, said the attacker seen in that video was nothing like the man she lived with.
“He loved God. He always read the Bible. He would give you knowledge on the Bible. Everywhere he went his Bible went. When he left he had his Bible in his hand,” the girlfriend is quoted as saying.
“That wasn’t him, that was his body but it wasn’t his spirit. Somebody did this to him,” WFOR quotes her as saying.
Fraternal Order of Police President Armando Aguilar told CNN affiliate WPLG that he suspects Eugene 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.
"He was a nice, outgoing, ready-to-help-anybody kind of guy," Cassandra Metayer, a high school friend of Eugene's, told WFOR. “Someone in their right mind doesn’t do that. This is not the act of a normal person. It has to be someone under the influence."
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.
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Tasers don't work on zombies.
Greatest. Headline. EVER.
Dear Police Officer,
If you are reading this please know that if I am ever having my face eaten by some nut, I would sincerely appreciate it if you shot him. (multiple times to sure)
Thank you,
Please don't eat my face.
Her son would have been subdued with a taser??? Sure.. as soon as he spit out this poor man's face.. Wake up lady.
Yes, he was!
Christian zombies. What next?
The police DID taser this man - had no affect on him. This is the sickest crime I've heard of in a long long time.
I'M SURE SOMEONE HELD HIM DOWN AND MADE HIM DO BATH SALTS. MAYBE THE POLICEMAN SHOULD HAVE LET HIM LIVE SO SOMEONE COULD HOLD HIM DOWN AND LET AN ALLIGATOR EAT HIS FACE OFF. I HOPE HIS FAMILY IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MAN'S HEALTH CARE BILL!
The Bible may have something to do with his inability to reason some go insane or are vulnerable it opens a pathway to evil and hate energy! EMF's are getting into the brain and triggering by the Illuminati they are the reptilians! wake up.
Can't tell if trolling....or if insane.
LOL
Sounds like mom is simply gearing up for a law suit.
She has a good point though. He was unarmed and naked. Why didn't they at least attempt to taze the guy? They taze everyone else. Why not him?
What will she claim was her loss, 180 pounds of fertilizer?
This man was a Zombie. Whatever it was that turned him is what I'd like to know more about, I could care less about how long it took the police to arrive at the scene or why they didn't shoot him in the head. I don't buy any of this media BS, I think it's all a cover up and that people need to be more aware and learn how to defend themselves. Bath-salts?!? Really? That's a crock of Sh** honestly.
You need to put down the comic books
People abusing drugs, losing touch with reality, and committing some insane heinous act (i.e eating someone's face) actually kind of makes a lot of sense. You have a better explanation?
To Importantopics (Sorry Mad – topics does not have a reply tab). You asked why he wasn't tazed when others are. Hmmm, let me think....oh that's right, HE WAS EATING ANOTHER MAN'S FACE OFF, you dolt. I can only imagine the horror scene that the first officer on the scene witnessed. I would double tapped him in the head – no question. A tazer is meant to subdue a situation BEFORE it reaches the face eating stage, just FYI.
any updates on the victims condition?
Remember Jeffrey Dahmer, he killed 17 boys and men, ate them and kept body parts and he was a WHITE man, so be very careful making racist remarks. Right back at you.
Mr. Zombie, how many bites does it take to get to the Juicy Brain center of a Human Skull?
Let's find out. A One... A two-GRRR... A three...
(crunch sound effect)
I'm sure the mother is quite distraught, but quite honestly, if I were ever to use drugs and eat someone's face off I pray the police shoot me to death. Imagine living with the knowledge you'd eaten someone's face.