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.
How in the world can the g/f blame what her b/f did on someone else? Excuses. Carrying a bible does not make one a good person. What one does in the world determines a person's "goodness". He will be forever remembered for his choices.
At least we know why this zombie turned out the way he did. Nothing like a mother making excuses for her son. Typical..... you know what I mean.
No...no I don't. 🙂
She loves him so much that she does not want to be named, because God forbid anyone knows she is his mother. I hate when people like this judge cops for how they react, yet she does not even like her son to claim him as her own.
I thought that earlier reporting said that both men were homeless. Now, this report says he was living with a girlfriend. Most Bible-believing Christians also aren't knee-deep into experimenting with street drugs either. At least, as far as I know. Lots of incongruities in the reporting so far in this. Either way, a very sad story...for Eugene, for Poppo, for the families involved. All just a shame. Meanwhile, drugs continue to pour into our country, aided and abetted by any who make money in the process. Problem is that no one holding the power to change the source gives a crap until the significant loss such as this happens to them directly.
Sorry, no. When you're eating someone else's face, the police should skip straight to guns. If this guy had just been walking around high and naked then yes, they should have used the taser. That's not what happened though. HE WAS EATING SOMEONE'S FACE.
And I say that as a liberal who doesn't particularly like the way police or firearms are dealt with in this country.
Yes, Shoot Hannibal. Ask Q's later.
I'm quite conservative, but I'm glad there is something we agree on 🙂 Faith in humanity +1 Zombie -1
He ATE a man's face off! Does cannibal sound better?
75% of the mans face is gone and this woman is still going to defend her son? He might've been a nice kid the day before but at the moment he assaulted another human being and at 75% of their face. No, he could not have been just tased.
A zombie only a mother could love.
Feed your lawn....
FEED IT.............
His love for BIBLE explains his behavior.. Crazy person used drugs and went crazy person zombie mode...
someone needs to shoot the mother and girlfriend for sticking up for the zombie
At what point does his stupid family (mother and sister) read the part where he was chewing on a homeless man's face for 18 minutes? Where was his Bible then?
The police put down the slime where he stood. That's what should have happened, and now the tax payer's only burden will be the medical bills.
Stupid people.
Zombies eat brains.
why stop at the brain?
Only slow moving zombies eat brains. Fast moving zombies eat flesh.
That is not really true. Some zombies eat brains in some stories, sure, but in general they eat flesh.
Zombies eat flesh in general
Of course zombies eat brains. His face just happened to be in the way
Well...if he had been given time...he might have gotten to the brain.
Zombies only eat brains in one series of movies... Return of the Living Dead... All other zombies just attack by biting...
Only in the Return of the Living Dead series. Most eat flesh. Or cheesy poofs – I forget.
Is that what happened to yours?
Is that what happened to your brain Fred ?
I want that police officer for my neighbor!!!!!!!!!!! Vote for him to be the next president of USA!
He was getting to that till the police showed up...he was on list last bite before brains...
he didn't get a chance to get that deep into the poor guy's head.
I am certain had he been able to continue his feast, he would've gotten around to eating the brain.
But Fred, they must go through either the skull or face to get to it. Skull not friendly to teeth.
Its funny or you haven't heard anything from Jesse, Al, or Farrakhan on this one. Guess they are staying away from the zombie apocalypse/cannibal/face eating/race war theory. White cop vs Black zombie isn't very good public propaganda.
Everyone knows the taser has no effect on a zombie. You have to cut the head off with a chainsaw or a bullet to the brain, and since most police don't carry chainsaws.....
I'm sorry ma'am, but in situations like these, you have to remove the head or destroy the brain.