The bizarre and tragic incident near Tequesta, Florida, Monday night in which a man is suspected of biting flesh from the face of one of his two victims does not mark the first time that it’s happened in Palm Beach County and South Florida.
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Former Suncoast football player and current FSU student Austin Harrouff is accused of stabbing to death John Stevens and his wife Michelle Mishcon in Martin County near Tequesta. When a neighbor tried to pry Harrouff off Stevens, Harrouff was biting off pieces of Stevens' face.
Austin Harrouff, in a 2015 Suncoast High School yearbook photo during his senior year. Harrouff played nose tackle for the varsity football team and was a member of the wrestling team.(Staff / The Palm Beach Post)
It was at least the third face-biting related incident in South Florida in the past four years.
In February of 2014 near Delray Beach, a naked man possessing what authorities described as superhuman strength assaulted a retired police officer and bit another man on the face before he was fatally shot during a confrontation with deputies.
Anesson Joseph, 28, was killed by Palm Beach County Office sheriff’s deputies after he continued to threaten officers even after being struck by a deputy's’ stun gun. A video showed that Joseph, after he was hit by the stun gun in front of The Colony apartment complex on South Military Trail, was “naked, sweaty, extremely muscular, bent forward in an aggressive stance, with a crazed look on his face and eyes” and was “exceedingly close” to a sergeant when he was shot, according to a state attorney’s report.
While deputies initially described it as a case of "excited delirium," Joseph had no drugs in his system other than an anti-seizure medication, according to a toxicology report.
Anesson Joseph (SOURCE: Facebook)
In June of 2012 in Miami, a man chewed the face off a homeless man on a causeway.
Rudy Eugene was shot to death by Miami police as he crouched over Ronald Poppo's limp body, naked and growling, biting off chunks of the man's face. An officer fired several bullets before stopping him.
While it was widely believed that Eugene was under the influence of "bath salts," a powerful synthetic amphetamine, toxicology tests showed his body was clean except for marijuana.
Rudy Eugene (SOURCE: family photo)
In the incident near Tequesta, Martin County sheriff's deputies said Harrouff was delusional, had taken off some of his clothes and, when he arrived at the hospital, was making "animallike" noises and was incoherent, Martin County Sheriff William Snyder said.
Soon after the attack, Snyder suggested Harrouff may have been on "flakka," a synthetic stimulant that is similar to amphetamines.
Snyder said Harouff had exhibited signs of excited delirium.
Harrouff was tested for drugs like cocaine, opiates, meth and marijuana, but those tests were negative.
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