May 27, 2012

Police gun down a man who is — quite obviously! — unarmed.

It's obvious, because he is naked. They gun him down, because he his eating the face off another man, who is also naked. They continue shooting until the man is dead because one shot doen't stop him from devouring the other man's face.
Investigators believe the victim may have been homeless and laying down when the crazed man pounced.
But why was the victim naked?

ADDED: "And the guy was like tearing him to pieces with his mouth, so I told him, 'Get off!'... You know it's like the guy just kept eating the other guy away like ripping his skin.... Police officer came over, told him several times to get off and a police officer climbed over the divider and got in front of him and said, 'Get off!' And told him several times and the guy just stood his head up like that with a piece of flesh in his mouth and growled."

41 comments:

Ann Althouse said...

Why the Miami Herald, a respectable newspaper, wrote "laying down" for "lying down," I can't tell you.

Jack Burton said...

Ground Zero in the coming Zombie Invasion...

Jason (the commenter) said...

Althouse: But why was the victim naked?

I don't know for sure, but as I live in Florida I can tell you that's it's very hot down here right now. It's only comfortable outside at night.

Perhaps being naked was a way to keep cool.

Jason (the commenter) said...

See, Althouse, there are worse things than a man in shorts!

Darrell said...

Blood splatter.
I know you don't watch scripted TV like Dexter, but others do.

greenlantern said...

Call "Kolchak: The Night Stalker".

Kensington said...

The zombie apocalypse has begun.

bagoh20 said...

This is what wrong with cops today. They'll shoot someone just to save face.

Lyle said...

Some drugs won't ever be legal.

JAL said...

rabies

Leland said...

What does it matter that the guy was unarmed? He was eating the face of another individual and continuing the assault after police arrived and demanded he stop the assault. What should the police do? Put a top jaw rope over the man's face, throw a shirt over his eyes, and then rush him? Crikey.

Rabel said...

Good one Bago.

Will the feds prosecute this as an ate crime?

OK. I stole that.

chickelit said...

Prima facie insanity.

chickelit said...

Perhaps the first man gave the second man some lip, setting the second man on a tear.

Chip Ahoy said...

Maybe the first guy stuck his nose where it didn't belong. Maybe he gave him the evil eye. But he did try to kept his chin up through the ordeal. Apologies for being cheeky.

Unknown said...

I blame the Bush tax cuts. Isn't that why are these fellows are "homeless"?

Quaestor said...

Homeless = barking mad psychotic.

It well past time we put this and whole barrel of 80's babble (coined by the leftist media wonks to pressure the Reagan administration) in the trash heap of history along with the half-assed court findings that have flooded our streets and highways with these burdensome loonies.

Anonymous said...

It was a faceoff.

george said...

My wife said the zombie ate the other guy's eyeball.

I imagine the cops were seriously freaked out at that point.

It wasn't clear to me whether the zombie's victim was dead, incapacitated or fighting.

holdfast said...

Didn't the cops know that only headshots work on zombies? Or were they afraid of accidentally hitting his lunch/victim?

edutcher said...

This is one of those stories that will go away when we have a POTUS that never choomed.

David said...

Not a good day for the drug legalization crowd.

Hiraethin said...

Sorry to break the running gag thing, but seriously! I don't care how much like a zombie the offender appeared, he was unarmed. Cops usually carry tools of less-than-lethal violence, like pepper spray and tasers. Why weren't they used? And while I think that unarmed techniques should have been sufficient, I'd be comfortable with the offender getting hit with nightsticks here. It beats getting shot to death.

ndspinelli said...

Zombieland is a funny flick.

ndspinelli said...

Jason and Allie, Good lines!

Wally Kalbacken said...

This is how we do it in South Florida. I have no problems with the shooting (whether it was six shots or a full clip.) Imagine encountering that.

BTW, there are several bridges in Miami which feature concentrations of homeless folks living underneath their approaches to Biscayne Bay. When you resolve the distances in the state law whihc separates registered sex offenders from things like schools, school bus stops, etc., etc., etc. the only place they can live in Miami Beach is under the bridge approach. I'm not kidding, it's like a Woodstock for registered sex offenders down there. Lots of crime and crazy shit, but this is a nominee for the cake.

Penny said...

Some things cannot be unseen.

frank said...

What the NYT won't tell you: 2 Florida Democrats fighting over whether Biden should be replaced by Clinton.

Wince said...

Luckily for Althouse readers, I'm a PCP-induced naked cannibal whisperer.

As the dog whisperer says, don't say a dog's name when you scold, or he'll just run away every time you call.

Likewise, don't repeatedly tell a PCP-induced naked cannibal eating another naked man's face to "Get Off".

Because I'm pretty sure a PCP-induced naked cannibal eating another naked man's face is in fact in the process of "Getting Off".

Penny said...

Fortunately, or maybe not, human trials are now being conducted with the drug propranolol which may change that.

Tibore said...

Here's a question: What's behind the choice of the words "gunned down"? Sure, it's correctly descriptive: The police officers shot the man to death, and according to the article had to fire multiple times in order to do so. "Gunned down" is definitely, no question, an accurate phrase to use.

But at the same time, it's not a neutral one. "Gunned down" often has a connotation being excessive, and when used in the context of a police shooting, either illegal (if it was an officer who was shot) or unjust (if it was the officer(s) doing the shooting). So the question - NOTE, not a criticism, a question - is: Why that particular choice of phrasing? Is the starting point of the discussion that the officers were excessive in their use of force to stop the assailant? And if so, what is the reasoning for that opinion?

MarkD said...

Try as I might, I just can't work up indignation over the excessive use of force.

holdfast said...

Using a taser would have really sucked for the poor victim/bitee.

Diamondhead said...

He leaves behind an unfinished piano concerto.. Thanks a lot, Miami PD

Pastafarian said...

Hiraethin: "I don't care how much like a zombie the offender appeared, he was unarmed..."

Really?

Really?

You know, I think in this instance, I'll cut the police a little slack. Jesus Hussein Christ.

You really wanted to try to rehabilitate this guy, to pay millions for his room and board for the next 40 years, after he ate someone's face off? This was the best possible outcome at this point. (The best possible outcome from the beginning, and not from this point, could have been achieved had the victim been armed.)

I've read defenses of necrophilia and legalized drug use here in the Althouse comments; I suppose finding a defense of cannibalism of a living victim was just a matter of time.

Freeman Hunt said...

Were I the man getting his face eaten, I'd prefer the cannibal had been shot before anyone took the time to so much as yell at him.

Diamondhead said...

That is the better question. Doesn't seem like much point in trying to discourage someone eating the face off a living person. They might have saved a piece or two of the man's face if they hadn't bothered trying to reason with him.

el polacko said...

"jesus hussein christ" thanks, pastafarian ! i've always wondered what that 'H" stood for. i assume that it's politically correct to use his full name now.

Methadras said...

Jason (the commenter) said...

See, Althouse, there are worse things than a man in shorts!


Nude cannibals in Miami. The horror. Well, aside from the other horror.

Unknown said...

The article I read contained the bizarre theory that the face-eater was suffering from cocaine psychosis, which according to them can cause the sufferer to feel exceedingly hot. So, he stripped off his clothes.

That doesn't explain the face-eating, of course.

Banshee said...

Wendigos are usually a northern winter thing, not a Miami summer thing.