Tag Archives: memorial day
ZOMBIE OUTBREAK – Face-chewing victim speaks out in police interview
MIAMI — A homeless man whose face was mostly chewed off in a bizarre assault alongside a busy South Florida highway told police that his attacker “just ripped me to ribbons.”
In a recorded interview with investigators, Ronald Poppo said the man who approached him initially seemed friendly. Then the man, Rudy Eugene, seemed to become angry about something that had happened on Miami Beach, where thousands were partying through the Memorial Day weekend.
“For a while he was acting nice. Then he got flustered. He probably remembered something that happened on the beach and was not happy about it,” Poppo told investigators in the interview that was taped July 19 and first reported Wednesday by Miami news station WFOR-TV (http://cbsloc.al/OQgwOt).
Poppo said Eugene then “turned berserk” and attacked with his bare hands, screaming that both men would die.
“He just ripped me to ribbons. He chewed up my face. He plucked out my eyes. Basically, that’s all there is to say about it,” Poppo said.
Poppo, 65, remains in a long-term care facility after losing an eye, his eyebrows, his nose and parts of his forehead and right cheek in the May 26 attack. His other eye was severely damaged.
Doctors at Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center said last month that Poppo was in good spirits, talking and walking around, but would need several more surgeries before he could explore the options for reconstructing his face.
Eugene, 31, was shot and killed by a Miami police officer during the attack on the Macarthur Causeway just off downtown Miami. Lab tests found only marijuana in Eugene’s system, but no other drugs or alcohol.
Poppo said Eugene had said something about not being able “to score,” adding that Eugene “must have been souped up on something.”
In the police interview, Poppo sometimes seems confused about some details of the attack. He described Eugene wearing a green shirt and getting out of a car, but surveillance video recorded from security cameras on The Miami Herald building showed a naked Eugene walking up to Poppo as cars and bicyclists zipped by. Poppo was reclining on the sidewalk near the parking garage where he lived.
Police asked Poppo whether he provoked Eugene.
“What could provoke an attack of that type?” Poppo said. “I didn’t curse at the guy or say anything mean or nasty.”
Poppo also thanked the police for saving his life, saying the officer who shot Eugene arrived in the nick of time.
Miami zombie cannibal similarity? East Naples man bites nurse, threatens to ‘eat faces,’ cops say
NAPLES, Fla. — After being arrested for DUI, an East Naples man was taken to the hospital, where deputies say he bit a nurse and attacked staff, threatening to eat their faces off and rape their wives.
Giovani Martinez, 21, of the 1700 block of 54th Terrace Southwest, was arrested Saturday by Collier deputies at Airport Pulling Road and U.S. 41.
According to an arrest report, deputies observed a small car traveling at 60 mph in a posted 45 mph zone and failed to stop at a red light.
Deputies said they then conducted a traffic stop on the car and discovered the driver, Martinez, to be intoxicated with a spilled beer in the front seat of the car.
At first, Martinez told deputies that the beer belonged to his sister, but he later admitted that he had a few beers that night, which led deputies to conduct a sobriety test on Martinez.
After failing his sobriety test, Martinez was transported to the Naples jail, where he later became unresponsive, according to arrest reports.
Deputies said they then had Martinez taken to NCH Downtown Naples Hospital, where he became violent with the hospital staff.
During the transfer from the ambulance bed to the hospital bed, Martinez began punching and kicking the staff, according to reports.
Martinez then bit one of the nurse’s arms and spit blood in his face as he yelled at them that he would eat their faces, like the guy in Miami, and rape all of their wives, deputies said.
Martinez was referring to an incident over Memorial Day in Miami where 31-year-old Rudy Eugene was found naked and chewing on Ronald Poppo’s face. Police shot and killed Eugene when he failed to respond to orders to stop attacking Poppo.
A hospital staff member told deputies that Martinez kicked him in the stomach and another deputy in the head.
Deputies said it took about 20 minutes before they were able to get Martinez secured.
Martinez faces three counts of felony battery on law enforcement officers and EMTs. He also faces a DUI charge.