It is being called one of this city’s goriest crimes: A naked man was on top of another nude man along a busy highway, biting into the man’s face, tearing it to pieces. A police officer arrived to help, but the mauler growled at him and continued to chew away, stopping only when he was shot to death.
Miami police said little on Tuesday about the attack, which took place on Saturday afternoon in the shadow of the Miami Herald headquarters. Surveillance video from the newspaper’s security camera showed cars, motorcycles, pedestrians and bicyclists passing by.
The victim, identified as 65-year-old Ronald Poppo, a homeless man who lived under the causeway, was in critical condition.
“He had his face eaten down to his goatee. The forehead was just bone. No nose, no mouth,” said Sergeant Armando Aguilar, president of the Miami Fraternal Order of Police. “In my opinion, he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Sergeant Javier Ortiz, vice president of the Miami Fraternal Order of Police, said it was one of the bloodiest “and goriest scenes I’ve ever been to.”
“It was not only grotesque, it was just very sad, the amount of blood. It was very sad to see what happened to this gentleman that had his face eaten,” Ortiz said.
It is not clear what led Rudy Eugene, 31, to attack Poppo. Eugene’s ex-wife, Jenny Ductant, told WPLG-TV that he was somewhat paranoid.
“I wouldn’t say he had a mental problem, but he always felt like people was [sic] against him ... No one was for him, everyone was against him,” she told the station.
Larry Vega was riding his bicycle off the causeway, which connects downtown Miami with Miami Beach, when he saw the attack.
“The guy was, like, tearing him to pieces with his mouth, so I told him: ‘Get off!’” Vega told Miami television station WSVN. “The guy just kept eating the other guy away, like, ripping his skin.”
Vega flagged down the police officer, who can be seen exiting his car on the Herald video. Vega said the officer repeatedly ordered the attacker to get off. Eugene just picked his head up and growled at the officer before continuing to maul his victim, Vega said.
The officer shot Eugene, but he just kept chewing, Vega said. The officer fired again, killing Eugene.
Detective William Moreno would not release details about the shooting, citing the ongoing investigation. Police have not released details from the autopsy and it could be weeks before the results of toxicology tests are available.
Ortiz said the officer, who is part of a crisis intervention team and trained to deal with the mentally ill, had no choice but to fire.
“He’s clearly shaken up,” Ortiz said, adding that the officer had been administratively reassigned pending an investigation, as is standard after an officer-involved shooting.
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