Flesh eater in Miami did not have bath salts in body. Now what?

[mfcorey1]

Rudy Eugene, the man who chewed off a homeless man’s face on the MacArthur Causeway and was shot to death by Miami police, had no drugs in his system other than marijuana, the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s office said Wednesday.

On May 26, Eugene stripped off his clothes along the causeway from Miami Beach before attacking 65-year-old Ronald Poppo in a ghoulish, drawn-out assault in plain view on a city sidewalk captured by a Miami Herald security camera. Eugene was shot by a police officer who found him chewing chunks off Poppo’s face.

The bizarre details of the attack prompted speculation that the 31-year-old attacker was under the influence of harder drugs. Soon after the incident, for example, the head of the Miami police union publicly speculated that Eugene was on “bath salts,” synthetic stimulants that have been blamed for seemingly psychotic episodes in other cases around the country.

But the medical examiner — after seeking help from an outside forensic toxicology lab — could find no evidence of the common components of “bath salts” in Eugene’s system. Nor did the lab find evidence of synthetic marijuana or LSD.

The medical examiner also found that Eugene had not ingested cocaine, heroin, PCP, oxycodone, amphetamines or any other known street drug other than marijuana — a drug not known for sparking violence.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/06/27/2871098/mes-report-eugene-had-no-drugs.html

[shraby]

1. Just possibly....the man was insane?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

9. I was just going to say

People do really become psychotic and snap and do crazy things even if they aren't under the influence of "bath salts" or any other drugs.

[NightWatcher]

2. Pot can give you the munchies

[rocktivity]

6. DUzy candidate!

rocktivity

[NightWatcher]

13. I prefer Krystals or Cheetos, maybe he had a hankering for flesh.

[badtoworse]

15. Screaming Yellow Zonkers - do they still make those?

[Leopolds Ghost]

16. 2nded

BRAAAAIIIINNNNSSS!!! uh, I mean -- CHEEETOS!

[Generic Brad]

3. So, he had a bad case of the munchies?

I suspect his psychological state of mind had more to do with his attack than marijuana did.

[demwing]

4. Now we prepare for the zombie apocalypse

what else?

[permatex]

5. Simple answer

He's a zombie, now call Woody Harrelson.

[spanone]

7. he had the munchies?

[Warren Stupidity]

8. Some people are violently insane without help from evile drugz.

[woodsprite]

10. I'm friends with an ER trauma nurse.

Christiana Hospital is a level 1 trauma center. She said, unless they've come up with something new within the last few weeks that her center doesn't know about, there is no test for Bath Salts. She said the only way you know is if someone is scared enough that they fess up about taking it. Many times, it's strap 'em down, test for everything possible and once that's ruled out, work under the assumption that it's a bath salts case.

[Leopolds Ghost]

17. What exactly is this Bath Salts business?

[Erose999]

21. Amphetamines. There is no "salt" in it. They just have to have another name/pretense for people to

buy the stuff other than snorting or smoking it. Same way they call synthetic marijuana "herbal incense".

[woodsprite]

24. They're designer drugs.

Here's a blurb from a WebMD article:

"Agitation, paranoia, hallucinations, chest pain, suicidality. It’s a very scary stimulant that is out there. We get high blood pressure and increased pulse, but there’s something more, something different that’s causing these other extreme effects. But right now, there’s no test to pick up this drug. The only way we know if someone has taken them is if they tell you they have.

The clinical presentation is similar to mephedrone [a chemical found in other designer drugs], with agitation, psychosis, and stimulatory effects. Both of these agents should be of concern, as severe agitated behavior, like an amphetamine overdose, has occurred.

A second concern is the ongoing suicidality in these patients, even after the stimulatory effects of the drugs have worn off. At least for MDPV, there have been a few highly publicized suicides a few days after their use," Horowitz says."

------

It goes on to say they're sold in Mini-marts, etc. I know just a few weeks ago, a man was arrested in DE for selling it at his gas station mini-mart right outside my son's school. We had a big case last year where a State Police officer was killed by a guy on bath salts. Gov. Markell signed a bill into law banning the sale of them, but I don't think there many states who have done that yet.

http://news.delaware.gov/2011/09/30/delaware-bans-dangerous-drugs-known-as-bath-salts/

[Leopolds Ghost]

25. So their answer is to put people in jail who are on the stuff. Sound familiar....

I also find it interesting that they compare it to "cocaine, LSD, MDMA, and/or meth." Four completely different types of drugs, and they're equating a hallucinogen like LSD with an addictive upper like cocaine (caffeine and nicotine fall in the same category) or a truly devastating drug like meth (bath salts sounds terrible as well). I never heard of a hippie on LSD biting someone's face off, although there are people who have had mental breakdowns from hallucinogens...

[bupkus]

11. If all of the madness and mayhem contributed to by alcohol use

Was subjected to the same standard as pot use then we'd still be living under alcohol prohibition.

Insane people do insane things whether they're using alcohol, pot, methamphetamine, heroine, cocaine, prescription drugs, or nothing at all.

[Schema Thing]

12. "Now what"? Did anyone ask "what the hell was she high on??" when....

the moms killed their own children, often in horribly violent ways? No, we know they where psychotic.



The man had an unusual psychotic episode.

[Marrah_G]

14. The story really does read like the beginning of a zombie novel

It just doesn't seem possible. The NJ guy who cut open his abdomen and threw his intestines at the cop...also...does not seem possible.

I have to say, all the wierd horror stories lately have me a little freaked out. Not alot, but a little.

[Leopolds Ghost]

18. They're only slightly zombiefied.

But I said "I must eat ALL the zombies!"

But you said "No, LG. You are the zombie."

And then I was a zombie.

[Marrah_G]

22. I suggest the following:

http://zombiesforzombies.com/Site/Welcome_to_the_Z4Z_World!.html

[Leopolds Ghost]

19. Seriously though... did this guy (the victim) survive?

Sounds like he'll need cosmetic surgery.

[Marrah_G]

20. Yes- not sure how much cosmetic surgery will help

There was not much left of his face.

[Erose999]

23. Newspapers are cutting their staffs and relying more on amatuer reporting and "social networking".

Naturally, the result is sensationalism and exaggeration.

[MADem]

26. Maybe he was using MJ in an effort to mitigate a serious mental disorder. Obviously, his efforts

at mitigation were unsuccessful.

[kestrel91316]

27. He's probably schizophrenic and severely delusional. And/or they

failed to detect the "bath salts" or whatever, because those cannot be reliably tested for, IIRC.

One thing I am 100% sure of: it wasn't the cannabis.

[HockeyMom]

28. Prader Wili Syndrome

I have worked with people who had that. They would eat anything they could get their hands on, including their own, and others, feces.
That this man had a mental disability, and was not on drugs, doesn't surprise me at all.

[valerief]

29. How long do bath salts stay in the body? Maybe they were flushed by the time

the med examiner got to him.