Cleveland viral video star Charles Ramsey reflects on rescuing kidnapped women one year ago
Screenshot/WKYC
Charles Ramsey became an overnight sensation on May 6, 2013, when a video of the Cleveland resident describing the rescue of Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus from Ariel Castro's house of terror went viral. Ramsey discussed the afternoon in detail, from what he was eating (McDonald's) to how it felt when Berry came looking for help ("Bro, I knew something was wrong when a pretty little white girl ran into a black man's arms. Something is wrong here... dead giveaway.").
A year later, Ramsey is back, having spent the past 12 months reflecting on that fateful day and writing a book (the aptly titled Dead Giveaway). In an interview with WKYC's Russ Mitchell, Ramsey said that while "everyone wants to be in the limelight for some reason... to see my face plastered on national TV all over the place, and my name ringing throughout the city of Cleveland, for a good deed of course, that's overwhelming. I'm still having a hard time taking it in."
Mitchell also brought up the women, asking Ramsey, who has run into Knight several times around the neighborhood, how they have thanked him since the rescue. "You know what they're doing? They're moving on with life," he said. "They're not in a psych ward somewhere. That's how they're thanking me, by just living life to the fullest."
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Ramsey gave Mitchell other tidbits about his own life, including that while he does have places to stay, he is technically homeless, and he's toying with the idea of going into stand up comedy. Watch the interview at USA Today. --Catherine Garcia
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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