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'Half Head Man' From Famous Mugshot Explains Why He Has Half A Head (VIDEO)

Carlos Sosa Half Head Mugshot

First Posted: 02/15/2012 1:38 pm Updated: 02/15/2012 4:08 pm

It's been nearly a year since Miami was introduced to the instantly, universally viral mugshot of "Half Head Man," and finally, we've got hazy answers -- very hazy answers.

The Miami New Times, who first spotted the cheerful alleged prostitute-solicitor in its "Mugshots Friday" series, ran across a YouTube account called "HalfHeadMan" in which the gentleman himself explains the traumatic injury.

(Scroll down for video. WARNING: May be inappropriate for some audiences.)

Answering to the name "Halfy" and smoking what looks an awful lot like a blunt, he suggests it's best to stay off drugs.

"[I was] on drugs, I was driving, and I hit a pole, and I flew out the front window and landed on my head," he says, turning side to side to show off a flattened skull. "That's why it's no good, drinking and driving or drug -- drugness and driving. No good, kids. No good."

"Halfy," who has been identified variously as Carlos Sosa or Carlos Rodriguez, then alleges the president of the United States uses drugs, affirms his love of large women, and makes several sexually explicit remarks. In a second video, he again smokes what appears to be a blunt as the narrator laughingly says, "Hello, world, I want y'all to meet Halfy...he's kind of famous already."

Indeed. But "Halfy" isn't the only man to have survived such a severe head injury. A British man named Steve Gator lost a large portion of his skull after being attacked walking home from work, leaving him, he says, with a nervous condition and an altered personality.

Scottish laborer Alan Hind also has just half a head after after falling 25 feet from a roof. He is now unable to work.

And remarkably, China's well-known "half-brain boy" Hou Guozhu was fitted with a titanium mesh "skull" after half of his head had to be removed because of Rasmussen’s Encephalitis when he was eight.

Though rare, the half-head injury didn't seem to faze local police, who famously wrote "half a head" under "unique physical features" in an arrest report, or Miami-Dade Corrections employees.

"I just looked at him," an employee at the Miami-Dade County Pre-Trial Detention Center told the UK Daily Mail. "I see a lot of stuff. It didn't really bother me."

(WARNING: VIDEO IS GRAPHIC, DISTURBING, AND CONTAINS SEXUALLY EXPLICIT LANGUAGE.)

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It's been nearly a year since Miami was introduced to the instantly, universally viral mugshot of "Half Head Man," and finally, we've got hazy answers -- very hazy answers. The Miami New Times, w...
It's been nearly a year since Miami was introduced to the instantly, universally viral mugshot of "Half Head Man," and finally, we've got hazy answers -- very hazy answers. The Miami New Times, w...
Filed by Janie Campbell  | 
 
 
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01:46 PM on 05/29/2012
I have half a mind to no longer read these stories!
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
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inthelandoftheblind
Collage by David Choe
24 hours ago ( 4:13 PM)
I half believe you!
F & F
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Puzzlr
Anything to get out of work.
01:44 PM on 05/29/2012
"Scottish laborer Alan Hind also has just half a head after falling 25 feet from a roof. He is now unable to work. "

Ya don't say....
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
MrUniteUs
12:10 PM on 05/29/2012
Say no to drugs.
08:00 AM on 05/29/2012
If my head was flattened I'd smoke a blunt too.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
llovejim
Truth, Justice and the Milky Way
05:27 AM on 05/29/2012
maybe he was soliticiting prostitutes cause he was looking for some head.
01:50 AM on 05/29/2012
It's really a shame because the half of his head that's still there is pretty attractive, but since he's missing the top half I can see why he would need a prostitute. I guess his other option would be to wear a hat and never take it off.
12:35 PM on 05/29/2012
Who say's that prostitutes don't provide a valuable service for society?
01:41 PM on 05/29/2012
Put a head-shaped plate in his head, and this guy will be getting more girls than you can shake a stick at.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Joseph Scott
Goat in the Thicket -- UR 2600 b.c.
07:16 PM on 05/28/2012
Doesn't a person lacking a frontal lobe also pretty much lack impulse control, in general?
I know brain injuries are tricky, but for addicted people, it's damage to the connections to their frontal lobe that upsets the seat of mature judgment and drives them on, honoring their every impulse...at least, that's my lay person's understanding.

Maybe somebody here has a more detailed look at that
01:58 AM on 05/29/2012
you might be right about the frontal lobe but addiction is more complicated then lack of impulse control. I can see how lacking impulse control could definitely help lead to addiction, but it isn't necessary for it. It's really the reward circuits in your brain being triggered that causes addiction, the super primal part of your brain that causes you to seek pleasure and avoid pain at all costs.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Joseph Scott
Goat in the Thicket -- UR 2600 b.c.
01:54 PM on 05/29/2012
Heh, gotta love the username....Donovan was part of our growning up in the 60's and 70's, my older brother turning me on to him when he was still a minstrel out of Scotland.

Anyway, yes, I agree addiction is a fascinating area and the woman, the Russian woman heading up the NIH, has been doing some brain mapping and experiments showing that reward center, the lizard brain in all of us, is running the show for the addict.
What she also mentioned, however, was that it was a 'disconnect' between these areas of the brain, and the lack of intervention, literally, by the frontal lobes, that keeps the addict filling his need for short term gratification which FEELS urgent (so therefore, to the addict, it IS).

apparently, she says our frontal lobes intervene with the seat of adult judgement, hopefully, and considers long term needs rather than short-term rewards. she claims it's the short circuit between these two entities in the brain that is causing the problem.
she also says, given ONE year, much of the damage can be stopped, and in cases, reversed!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Corban
My Weimaraner is smarter than your honor student
02:31 PM on 05/28/2012
A friend of mine suffered a severe accident after being hit on a motorcycle. It wasn't as drastic but, he has photos of himself in a hospital bed with his skull caved in just like the guy from this story. He's an artist so he intentionally shocks people for his own laughs, because he gets around with a wheelchair, he starts going "durrrr, durrrr, durrr" acting like the village idiot crashing into people. He keeps talking about doing a doing a documentary based on how people treat him and how he see's the world now.
01:37 AM on 05/28/2012
Until recently when someone paid to get him into a better living situation, there was a homeless guy in Memphis with a similar-looking injury, but his was caused by being shot in the head. Remarkable what people can live through. He wasn't exactly what you'd call a mental giant after losing half of his head, but he seemed to get around okay and was a common sight in town.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
derekw007
is farting
01:08 AM on 05/28/2012
I've heard of of a bowl haircut - but this is ridiculous.
08:04 AM on 05/29/2012
is that the best you could come up with?
01:01 AM on 05/28/2012
Half-brain boy is better off than the half-hearted tea drinkers. He at least loves big women. The tea ba&&ers don't love anyone.
01:53 PM on 05/29/2012
Your pathetic attempt at "political humor" - is just that. Pathetic. EVERYTHING is not about politics. This guy has half a brain - what`s your excuse ?
23 hours ago ( 4:21 PM)
You're crabby. And that's not my excuse. It's merely an observation. 
12:57 AM on 05/28/2012
And he goes by the name Halfy ... In high school I dated a guy and his last name was Haffey but we all called him blockhead. LOL
JackVandusen
Switched to coffee
08:07 PM on 05/27/2012
Another one for Florida.
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Donut Man
I'm holier than thou
07:18 PM on 05/27/2012
HP, keeping the circus freak show going in the 21st century.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
PaddockGirl
Power to the People
02:55 PM on 05/27/2012
I hope he has a large collection of hats. Bless his heart.