Yovonka Bryant told a press conference in Miami, Florida that she “wished the public knew Rudy [Eugene] the way I did” saying that they often studied the bible together.
Bryant said she thought that he would have made a good father and thought that “most likely he was given a drug without his knowledge,” which led to the horrifying assault that left homeless man Ronald Poppo, 65, without a face.
Eugene, who was naked at the time of the assault, was shot to death 12 times by Miami police when he refused to stop his attack.
Rudy Eugene
Police reports suggest that the drug that Eugene had taken was a form of LSD sold as bath salts on the black market.
Answering to the wild rumours that her boyfriend was involved in some kind of voodoo ritual, Bryant told reporters that “Rudy and I never discussed cannibalism or voodoo”.
She told affectionate personal stories about her memories of Eugene, “He played football with my brothers and cousins every Saturday afternoon. My children used the nickname ‘Uncle Beard’ when they talked about him. One of the things I loved about Rudy was how he talked about his family and how much he loved his mother and grandmother. I truly did not have a care in the world when I was with him.”
Last week she told The Miami Herald “Something happened out of the ordinary that day. I don’t want him to be labelled the ‘Miami Zombie’. He was a person. I don’t want him to go down like that.”
Bryant is being represented by high-profile lawyer Gloria Allred who has a history of taking on controversial cases.
Main image: Attorney Gloria Allred holds a news conference with Yovonka Bryant (Getty images)
Watch video footage from the press conference below (via Associated Press/YouTube)
Eyewitness cyclist Larry Vega who was passing by as the attack happened described what he saw to TV interviewers, likening it to a scene from The Walking Dead. “The guy just stood, his head up… with pieces of flesh in his mouth and growled”.
The horrendous injuries suffered by homeless man Ronald Poppo, before and after, who had 80% of the flesh torn from his face during the assault. TNT has censored the second image.
