Face-Eating Cannibal Attack May Be Latest in String of 'Bath Salts' Incidents

— -- intro: On May 26, Miami police shot and killed a homeless man who was allegedly feasting on the face of another homeless man in a daylight attack on a busy highway. Before now-infamous "face-eating cannibal" Randy Eugene was stopped by four police bullets, say authorities, he had gnawed the face of victim Ronald Poppo down to his goatee. "The forehead was just bone," said a witness. "No nose, no mouth." Police said that Eugene, 31, who had ripped off his clothes and refused police orders to stop eating Poppo's flesh, showed behavior consistent with ingesting the synthetic cocaine substitute known as bath salts. Bath salts have been connected to a range of violent incidents and a spike in emergency room visits since they became popular several years ago. Last fall, the Drug Enforcement Administration banned three chemicals used in bath salts, and 38 states have enacted their own bans, but incidents continue.

quicklist: 1category: Bath Salts Incidentstitle: July 2010text: Carey Shane Padgett of Roanoke County, Virginia allegedly beats his friend Cara Marie Holley to death. He later claims that he had ingested the both bath salts and synthetic marijuana, or spice.media: 16468407

quicklist: 2category: Bath Salts Incidentstitle: November 2010text: Dickie Sanders, pictured here on left with his father Rick and sister Jaymi, take his own life days after ingesting bath salts. According to his mother, Sanders first sliced his own throat and said, "I can't handle what this drug has done to me. I'm never going to touch anything again." Hours later he shot himself. "He took his life because he was scared out of his mind," his father told ABC News.media: 16475231

quicklist: 3category: Bath Salts Incidentstitle: April 2011text: The medical examiner's office of Hillsborough County, Florida determines that Jairious McGhee died after ingesting "bath salts." Days earlier, Gov. Rick Scott had signed a state law banning bath salts, which had been sold legally in stores and on the internet.media: 16468472

quicklist: 4category: Bath Salts Incidentstitle: April 2011text: Investigators determine that Army Sgt. David Stewart was under the influence of bath salts when he killed himself, his wife Kristy and their five-year-old son in Spanaway, Washington. Granules of bath salts were found in his car and his home, and a 500-milligram jar of salts was found in his pocket, according to the coroner.media: 16475270

quicklist: 5category: Bath Salts Incidentstitle: May 2011text: Mark Thompson of Alum Creek, West Virginia is arrested after allegedly killing his neighbor's goat while under the influence of bath salts. According to the criminal complaint, Thompson was found semi-dressed in women's clothing in his bedroom with blood everywhere. The goat was dead on the floor next to a pornographic photo. Thompson told police he'd been taking bath salts for three days.media: 16469059

quicklist: 6category: Bath Salts Incidentstitle: June 2011text: Ten members of an alleged bath salts ring are arrested by the DEA. Officials allege members of the ring, led by Miguel Ashby (above), shipped the bath salts from Seattle to a handful of New York City shops.media: 16469039

quicklist: 7category: Bath Salts Incidentstitle: September 2011text: Patrick Powell, 31, of Spartanburg, S.C., is charged with two counts of attempted murder, and the use of a firearm while under the influence. He was allegedly found shooting out of the windows of a house while claiming that there was a body inside. There was no body inside. He allegedly told police he had ingested bath salts, alcohol and valium.media: 16468598

quicklist: 8category: Bath Salts Incidentstitle: February 2012text: A Florida man believed to be under the influence of bath salts allegedly bit the hood of a police cruiser when police attempted to restrain him. Eric Scott, 47, of Milton, Fla, had been knocking on neighbors' doors and asking them to call 911, saying he needed medical assistance. When police were summoned, he allegedly threw a flashlight at them and begged them to shoot him. Police allege that as they waited for emergency responders to arrive, Scott, then detained in handcuffs, began to scrape his teeth across the hood of their patrol car, digging through the paint down to the metal. Scott was transported to a local hospital, where he continued to ask police and hospital workers to kill him. "We unfortunately have to deal with [suspects on bath salts] pretty frequently and all of his actions were consistent with someone who was on that," a Santa Rosa sheriff's department spokesman told ABC News. A woman at Scott's residence denied to ABC News that Scott was using bath salts at the time of the incident.media: 15779292

quicklist: 9category: Bath Salts Incidentstitle: May 2012text: In one week, Columbus, Ohio police shot two different men who were allegedly high on bath salts. A SWAT officer shot and killed Kevin Boozer on Tuesday, May 22 after he held a knife to his girlfriend's neck. Relatives claimed bath salts had made Boozer violent. Several days prior, another suspect believed to be under the influence of bath salts allegedly fired at police when they interrupted him while he was breaking into his own house. Police fired back wounding him. media: 16475038

quicklist: 10category: Bath Salts Incidentstitle: May 2012text: Randy Eugene, a 31-year-old homeless man, was shot dead by Miami police on Saturday, May 26 while eating the flesh of another homeless man, Ronald Poppo. Police said that Eugene had attacked Poppo in broad daylight on a busy highway, and growled at them when they ordered him to stop. Before Eugene was shot to death he had consumed 75 percent of the flesh on Poppo's face. Armando Aguilar, president of the Miami Fraternal Order of Police, told ABC News that Eugene's behavior was consistent with other incidents involving bath salts in Miami. "People taking off their clothes. People suddenly have super-human strength," said Aguilar. "They become violent and they are burning up on the inside." Aguilar referred to an earlier incident involving bath salts in which a suspect who had torn off his clothes was hit by a taxi and then beat the occupants of the vehicle. "It took 15 officers to stop him, and as he was being tasered, he was begging them to shoot and kill him."

Poppo, the victim of Eugene's cannibalistic attack, is expected to survive. media: 16459078