MIAMI – Miami police released audio tapes of an interview with Ronald Poppo, who police said had his face chewed off by Rudy Eugene over Memorial Day weekend.
Detectives interviewed Poppo on July 19th, nearly two months after the attack. It lasts 14 minutes.
LISTEN: Full audio
A portion of the transcript is below:
Poppo: He first smashed my face into the, uh, sidewalk. My face is all bent, mashed up.
Detective: What happened after that?
Poppo: He attacked me. He just ripped me to ribbons. He chewed up my face. He plucked out my eyes.
Detective: Did Mr. Eugene have anything in his hands?
Poppo: No, Eugene did not have any type of weapon. He did not use any weapon on me. He basically was using brute, brute force.
Detective: What was he saying when he was assaulting you?
Poppo: 'You, me, buddy, and nobody else here. I'm gonna, gonna kill you.' Or something like that, I guess.
Detective: Did he say why?
Poppo: No. He just started to scream. And he was talking kind of funny talk for a while, too, yeah.
Detective: What do you mean by funny talk?
Poppo: That I was gonna die and he was gonna die. He must have been suped-up on something. I thank the Miami Police Department for saving my life. That's about the best I could sum it up as. If they get there in a nick of time, I actually would have been in worse shape. Possibly I'd be DOA (dead on arrival).
Poppo: We were chummy for a while. Then he just snapped.
READ: Full transcript
In a report on the investigation obtained by Local 10 Crime Specialist John Turchin, Poppo told police that Eugene accused him of taking his bible in Miami Beach. In the August 1 interview, Poppo reportedly told police he did not have anything belonging to Eugene and hadn't been to Miami Beach.
Police initially believed Eugene was on bath salts, but only marijuana was found in his body after an autopsy.
Police are still investigating the shooting.