Man Bites Car, Bath Salts to Blame?

Feb. 24, 2012 — -- A Florida man showing signs of being under the influence of bath salts bit the hood of a police cruiser, scraping off the paint and causing nearly $600 in damage while officers attempted to restrain him, local police allege.

According to police reports, 47-year-old Eric Scott of Milton, Fla., had been knocking on neighbors' doors and asking them to call 911, saying he needed medical assistance. When officers from the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's office arrived, Scott allegedly began to walk away from them while cursing to himself, before throwing his flash light at a nearby mailbox and screaming "over and over" at the officers to shoot him.

He already had several self inflicted injuries to his hands and blood coming from his nose, police said.

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. Scott was released from the hospital but could still face charges of criminal mischief and resisting an officer without violence.

Scott displayed numerous symptoms of using bath salts including "erratic behavior, confusion, loss of direction, and aggression towards law enforcement," according to police reports.

"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," Sgt. Scott Haines of the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's office told ABC News.

WATCH: '20/20' Investigation: Bath Salts, a Deadly, Legal High?

A woman who answered the phone at Scott's residence -- and who could be overheard passing along questions to someone else in the room -- told ABC News Scott claimed he was not on bath salts.

"Just beer and vodka," she said.

DEA Announces Emergency Ban on 'Bath Salts'

Last June, an investigation that aired on ABC News "20/20" revealed the dangers of the then-legal bath salts, which have been linked to violent, sometimes deadly outbursts by users.

"They're selling time bombs," Louisiana Poison Control Center Director Dr. Mark Ryan told ABC News during the investigation. "We've had some people show up who are complaining of chest pains so severe that they think they're having a heart attack. They think they're dying... They have extreme paranoia. They're having hallucinations. They see things, they hear things, monsters, demons, aliens."

The synthetic drug, which has since been placed under an emergency ban by the DEA while a bill to permanently ban it awaits a vote by the Senate, has been linked to a number of bizarre episodes over the past year, including a New Orleans woman's arm being devoured by a flesh-eating disease in January and a West Virginia man dressed in women's underwear slaying a goat last May.

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