Cannibal Attack: Witness 911 Calls Released

Miami police have released the emergency call recordings of several people who rang to report a disturbing cannibal attack in which a homeless man had most of his face bitten off.

Ronald Poppo was set upon by Rudy Eugene in a nightmare incident beside a busy motorway.

Police were alerted to the scene by witnesses who saw Eugene, 31, ripping pieces of flesh from Mr Poppo's face.

It is not clear what led Eugene to attack Mr Poppo, who slept rough near the scene, but one official suggested the homeless man "just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time".

In the tapes released by police, one unidentified caller reported seeing a man pulling off all his clothes.

"I'm just reporting a naked man in front of The Miami Herald building on the highway," he told an emergency responder.

"He was taking off his clothes and throwing them into traffic. He's a black male, curly hair... You can't miss him. He's naked."

Another man, who identified himself as Mike, rang to report "two bums ... going at it, taking up the whole lane".

"I think they were fighting," he said. "They almost knocked over an old lady who was riding by. I thought you should know."

A third person, a woman bus driver, also called the US emergency number, 911.

"Listen, there is a naked man on the MacArthur Causeway... He is beating another man to a pulp, like on top of the man, beating him. He is bleeding," she said.

"I'm a bus driver. I passed by and saw what was happening. It's a naked man beating another man, beating him ... He's gonna kill that man, I promise you."

The calls were logged on May 26 between 2pm and 2.18pm local time.

Eugene was later shot dead by an officer who had called on him to stop attacking his victim, but failed to do so.

There is widespread speculation Eugene was under the influence of some kind of potent drug, but his girlfriend believes he had been put under a voodoo curse.