MIAMI – Miami police released audio tapes of an interview with Ronald Poppo, who police said had his face eaten off by Rudy Eugene over Memorial Day weekend.
Detectives interviewed Poppo on July 19th, nearly two months after the attack. It lasts 14 minutes.
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A portion of the transcript is below:
Poppo: He smashed my face into the sidewalk. My face was all bashed up. My eyes got plucked out. He was straggling me in wrestling holds. At the same time, he was taking my eyes out. He was straggling me in wrestling holds. For a very short amount of time, I thought he was a good guy but he just went and turned beserk.
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 force.
Detective: What was he saying when he was assaulting you?
Poppo: 'You and me buddy. Nobody else. I'm gonna kill you.' Something like that I guess.
Detective: Did he say why?
Poppo: No. He just thought to scream. He was talking kinda funny to, 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).
READ: Full transcript
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.