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Cleveland Hero Charles Ramsey Says No Thanks To Free Burgers

Charles Ramsey on the day three young women (and one of the women's daughters) were rescued from a Cleveland home. He gained fame for his accounts of what happened.
Scott Shaw
/
The Plain Dealer /Landov
Charles Ramsey on the day three young women (and one of the women's daughters) were rescued from a Cleveland home. He gained fame for his accounts of what happened.

We need to update the news that a dozen Cleveland area restaurants said they would give Charles Ramsey "free burgers for life" because of the way he helped rescue three young women and a little girl from the home where police say they had been held captive and brutalized for years.

Ramsey, as The Plain Dealer has reported, says no thank you.

"He is encouraging people to do things that will help the victims," says attorney Patricia Walker, who is representing Ramsey.

Ramsey is also "disgusted" with an online video game "that depicts him and Ariel Castro, the man accused of holding the women hostages, throwing hamburgers at each other," the Plain Dealer says.

According to the newspaper, "Walker said Ramsey hired her seeking protection with intellectual and property rights, seeking more control over his likeness, name and voice."

As we've previously written:

Ramsey gained instant fame for his animated account of what happened on May 6 after he heard victim Amanda Berry calling for help from inside a home in his neighborhood. With Ramsey's help, Berry and her 6-year-old daughter were able to get out. Minutes later, police were able to rescue the other two young women who had been inside — Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight.

Ramsey became something of legend "I knew something was wrong when a little pretty white girl ran to a black man's arms."

He also told reporters about how he had been been eating a Big Mac when he heard Berry's shouts.

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Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.