A Tale of Two Zombies

May 26, 2012. Miami, Florida.

For reasons unknown, 31 year old Rudy Eugene removes his clothes while walking and begins viciously attacking a homeless man. Eugene begins eating the victim's face, destroying nearly 80% of it. A lone police officer arrives on the scene and begins to order Eugene to cease the attack. The officer was reportedly growled at in response. After not complying with orders, Rudy Eugene was shot dead. The homeless victim lived, despite having to undergo massive facial surgeries. Marijuana was the only drug found in the perpetrators system.

August 15, 2016. Tequesta, Florida.

19 year old FSU student Austin Harrouff inexplicably storms out of the restaurant he and his family were dining at, allegedly agitated at the slow service. He begins the several mile walk, likely towards his father's house, when he began to remove some of his clothes. Along the way, he encounters a husband and wife sitting outside their garage that night. Harrouff begins his bloody rampage: killing the wife, injuring a neighbor who tried to intervene, and killing the husband, who he crawled on top of an began eating his face and abdomen. Officers arrived and took the subject into custody where he was transferred to a local hospital. Harrouff allegedly tells police they won't find drugs in his system. Initial toxicology results show negative for cocaine, marijuana and amphetamines. 

We have two bizarre, yet similar attacks here. Both assailants inexplicably attack their victim(s) savagely, but we have two very different outcomes here. Rudy Eugene, a black man, refused to stop his attack. He was shot multiple times and died at the scene of the attack. Austin Harrouff, on the other hand was a young white male. He too refused to stop gnawing on his victim, yet lethal force was not used. Officers utilized a taser, a dog and then eventually it took several people to remove him from the victim.

At first glance, this contrast seems ripe for racial commentary. Black cannibal gets killed; white cannibal alleged perpetrator gets humanely treated and promptly taken to the nearest hospital.

Of course, media outlets like the NY Daily News and Washington post absolutely blasted Martin County police for apparently acting with such restraint or conversely for not immediately shooting him dead, exactly how Rudy Eugene was handled. Many pundits went on to say that Harrouff was essentially spared because he was white.

Yet again, our country shows no sign of stopping the great racial divide.

However, as similar as these cases seem, they couldn't be more different. Rudy Eugene was initially approached by a single officer. In fact, it was that lone office who handled the whole situation. He saw a helpless man being viciously attacked by an assailant who was not responding to his commands to stop. This policeman evaluated the situation, felt he could stop the attacker without harming himself or the victim...and that's what he did. Every single shot fired was on target, not a single stray bullet hit the victim, who went on to survive the ordeal.

When police arrived to the scene of Austin Harrouff's attack, the officers admit they first considered shooting him. However, the deciding factor was not because he was white, rather because he was literally face-to-face with his victim chewing him apart while laying on top of him. Officers had no idea if the male victim was still alive and did not want to risk hitting him with a stray bullet, or even striking Harrouff and having the bullet go through him and then hitting the victim.

Both instances are a tragedy, no matter how you look at it. But skin color had nothing to do with it.

However, the biggest tragedy here is the media infatuation of questioning why a black man had to be shot for brutally attacking someone, while ignoring the fact that his victim miraculously survived against all odds, despite extensive injuries. And then so much outrage is directed at the white kid for not getting shot, we basically forget to mourn the 2 senseless deaths and 1 injury that resulted.

In the end, maybe these senseless killers aren't the real zombies. Maybe we are.