Ronald Poppo: Cannibal Victim Speaks For The First Time

Ronald Poppo, the victim of a viscous attack in Miami where a naked man threw him down and chewed off most of his face, described a scene where a guy he had never really met came up to him on the street and started talking to him before he threw him down and brutally attacked him. Poppo described the scene in police interview tapes obtained by CBS Miami that were recorded on July 19th.

Poppo described the awful attack and then thanked the police for saving his life.

Poppo told police,

“He just ripped me to ribbons. He chewed up my face. He plucked out my eyes… And basically that’s all there is to say about it.”

Rudy Eugene, the man who attacked Poppo, left his victim blind in both eyes and his face a puzzle of mangled flesh. Eugene had been walking on the MacArthur Causeway on May 26th when he approached Poppo, who was laying down under the causeway. Poppo said that Eugene approached him in a friendly way before strangling him and throwing him on the ground and attacking him.

Poppo told police,

“For a very short amount of time I thought he was a good guy. But he just went and turned berserk. He apparently didn’t have a good day at the Beach and he -– he was coming back. And I guess he took it out — took it out on me — or something. I don’t know. What can provoke an attack of that type. I certainly didn’t curse at the guy, or say anything mean or nasty to him.”

The 18 minute attack was recorded on local surveillance cameras. They show how for 18 minutes Eugene ate Poppo’s face and plucked out his eyes. Eugene was thought to be high on some type of drugs, possibly bath salts, but only had marijuana in his system. Although experts are saying that toxicology labs are not able to keep up with all the new formulations of the drugs that keep coming out.

Police who responded to the scene shot and killed Eugene.