By turning and running, he did exactly the wrong thing.
Running from a cat stimulates its "chase impulse", and virtually ensures it will chase you down.
What it does w/you when it catches you (and rest assured, it WILL catch you), is up to you.
Unless there's something seriously wrong w/the cat (starved, socialized to humans, etc.), once it figures out what you are it will leave.
Stay on your feet, face the cat (but don't look it directly in the eyes, that makes it more nervous), make lots of noise, and back away.
Other than that, remember, sooner or later we're all just meat.
Oh yeah, a .45 helps too.
That's right...note that when he did exactly that, the cat left.
I know that a domestic cat could attack and kill a chicken, but usually won't because the chicken will flap and squawk and make a lot of hubbub. They just don't want the bother apparently...
I did a little investigation, and found that the 2 most attacked groups are boys under age 12, and women over 40. I'm not a boy under 12, but I am a woman over 40.
I don't want to be lunch, nor do I want to give up walking behind my home each morning. I think there are enough deer and other tender vittles roaming around that I don't have to worry, but am quite vigilant.
Your rant is straight out of the National Park Service/PETAPersons talking points paper. By the way, even they are backing off from such inanities.
If the cat wants you, and it did want to kill and eat that student, he wisely diverted the cat from his woman and then defended himself as best he could under the conditions.
Before making any more uninformed statements about such predators, try looking at www.evergladesinstitute.org.
Information can be your friend.