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Miami attacker who chewed man’s face was not high on ‘bath salts,’ officials say

MIAMI — The Miami “cannibal” who chewed off half of another man’s face last month had no drugs in his system other than marijuana, officials said Wednesday, defying suspicions that he was high on “bath salts” during the grisly attack.

Rudy Eugene, 31, was shot and killed by police on May 26 after he was found naked and biting into a homeless man’s face and eyes beside Miami’s MacArthur Causeway.

Authorities had suspected Eugene was under the influence of synthetic drugs sold as “bath salts,” which have been known to make some users aggressive and behave bizarrely. Witnesses said he had taken off his clothes and was swinging on a light pole before the attack.

But in a statement Wednesday, the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s office said it has “ruled out the most common drugs found in ‘bath salts,'” adding that an outside toxicology lab confirmed the absence of “bath salts,” synthetic marijuana and LSD in Eugene’s system.

“Within the limits of current technology by both laboratories, marijuana is the only drug identified in the body of Mr. Rudy Eugene,” the department said.

Eugene’s victim, 65-year-old Ronald Poppo, is still recovering at Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, according to the Miami Herald. He underwent skin grafts to repair his facial mutilations and is temporarily blind.