Bizarre Miami “Face-Eating” Attack May be Tied to “Bath Salts” Street Drug Use

In what was perhaps one of the most bizarre reports in years, Miami police were forced to shoot and kill a 31-year old man, Rudy Eugene, who was naked and was viciously gnawing on the face of another man along on a busy highway. Reports are now beginning to surface that the “face-eating” attack may be the result of a new, and apparently extremely dangerous, street drug being referred to as “bath salts.”

ABC news reports that on Saturday, Miami police made several attempts to get Eugene to stop eating another man’s face before fatally shooting him. Reportedly the police demands to stop were met with only growls from Eugene.

Police reported that very little remained of the victim’s face, with 75 percent of it eaten away rendering him almost unrecognizable. ABC News affiliate WPLG identified the victim as Ronald Poppo, a 65 year-old, homeless man who was living in the area where the attack took place.

While the Miami Police have not officially connected Eugene’s behavior to “bath salts,” several experts say he was exhibiting the classic signs of someone high on the drug. According to ABC news, Armando Aguilar, president of the Miami Fraternal Order of police, who has been in contact with the officer who killed Eugene, says the similarities between this and other recent cases involving “bath salts” are striking.

“The cases are similar minus a man eating another. People taking off their clothes. People suddenly have super human strength,” says Aguilar. “They become violent and they are burning up for the inside. Their organs are reaching a level that most would die. By the time police approach them they are a walking dead person.”

According to Aguilar one of the recent cases in Miami involving “bath salts,” which is becoming increasingly popular in the party scene, involved someone trying to bite another, but police were able to get there in time. Most have involved individuals behaving incredibly irrationally and nearly impossible to control.

“There was another incident after the popular Ultra Festival where a guy was walking around naked, and was hit by a taxi. He jumped on top of the taxi, beat the people inside. It took 15 officers to stop him, and as he was being tasered, he was begging them to shoot and kill him,” says Aguilar. “But because we had that many officers we were able to subdue him and take him to the hospital where they basically froze him.”

In 2011 the DEA banned the sale of three chemicals used to make the drug citing an “imminent threat to public safety.” The drug gets its name from the fact that it looks much like bath salt used in bath tubs, but it’s chemical composition is much different.

The growing popularity of the drug may be due to the fact that it is less expensive than cocaine or ecstasy can be made cheaply in kitchens. Once inhaled or snorted, users of the drug can experience high body temperatures that induce hypothermia, paranoia, hallucinations, and agitation.

Source: ABC News