The man who made the 911 call that helped rescue Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight from their decade-long kidnapping and imprisonment is being touted as a hero.
But he doesn't think about it that way, he said in his recent interview with USA Today reporters (see video below).
"I don't even want [fame], nor looking for it," Ramsey said, clad in a modest black t-shirt and Cleveland Indians baseball cap. "Let me tell you something, I'm American. And I'm a human being. I'm just like you. I work for a living. There was a woman in distress-why turn your back on that? I'm the definition of a man, bro."
Ramsey was sitting on his porch eating a Big Mac Tuesday when he when he heard screams from next door.
"This girl, her scream was so loud, children stopped playing," he elaborated. "That's what made me look outside."
He saw 20-year-old Amanda Berry trying to kick the door open of her captor, 52-year-old Ariel Castro's, house. He lived next door to Ramsey, who says he knew Castro fairly well. They ate barbecue ribs together in Castro's backyard and listened to Latin music with one another. The whole time, unbeknownst to Ramsey, three female captives lived inside.
Ramsey claims he was momentarily confused by Amanda Berry's racial distinction and gender.
"I thought, 'that ain't right,'" he said. "'That's a white girl. Nobody white lives here...' and I knew Ariel didn't have a girlfriend, that's why I didn't know how she got into the house in the first place."
Once he got the door ajar, Amanda informed him and police officers that had shown up to the scene that there were two more females upstairs, Georgina and Michele.
Ramsey was in utter disbelief, as he turned, mouth agape, to the police.
"In 15, 20 seconds, they came out," he remembers. "I said, oh, my god..."
Charles Ramsey has since become an internet sensation, not only for his good deed but also because of his laid back demeanor and impassioned storytelling.
He is being likened to another internet star whose news interview went viral in April last year: Sweet Brown.
#CharlesRamsey is now trending on Twitter.
