'Dead Giveaway' Cleveland Hero Charles Ramsey Pens Book; Gave Away $2K Worth of Hamburger Gift Cards to Homeless People
A year after his colorful television interview about his role in the rescue of three women and a young girl shot him to fame last May, Cleveland hero Charles Ramsey has penned a book and it's chock-full of riotous details about the man who became America's unlikely hero.
On May 6, 2013, Ramsey helped Amanda Berry, 27, her 6-year-old daughter, Jocelyn; Gina DeJesus, 23; and Michelle Knight, 32, escape from kidnapper Ariel Castro's house where they were being held captive as sex slaves for almost 10 years. Castro went on to commit suicide in prison.
Ramsey touted his book titled, Dead Giveaway during a reddit AMA Tuesday.
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"Somebody had to peel a hundred pounds of onions every day, and that job almost always fell on me," begins the former restaurant worker in the first line from the book where he talks about how he lost his teeth. He shares more in an excerpt here.
During the AMA session, Ramsey also fielded a host of questions from fans and he revealed gems like his decision to give away some $2,000 worth of gift cards he got for free hamburgers as a reward for his heroism.
"The free hamburgers were from May 6 and they ended May 8 last year. They gave me $2,000 in gift cards and I handed them out to every homeless person and kid I could find," he said.
When asked if there was anything he would have done differently during the rescue in hindsight, he said he wouldn't have called the police.
"I wouldn't have called the police if I had known what was going on. That's what I would have done," said Ramsey.
"I would have helped Amanda. I would have got my comrades, freed Gina and Michelle, go back in the house. And when Mr. Castro came home, we would turn it on him. I would have got him pregnant five times and beat the babies out of him. I would have put a motorcycle on his forehead. I would have bought a one-way ticket to Puerto Rico and dropped him off and told them, here he is. Do what we want," he said.
He said he is promoting a campaign in his city to demolish abandoned homes and buildings which he thinks are a haven for undesirable people in his community.
"I am pushing a campaign that consists of demolishing abandoned houses and buildings in my city. Hopefully, if this picks up, other cities will do the same. If we get rid of rest havens for pedofiles [sic], we even the game," he said.
"Right now, you could kidnap some kids in Cleveland and put them anywhere. I thought Castro's house was abandoned. He didn't have no air conditioning. If you put me back in Africa, I'd be on the first plane back. They told me I was a nosy neighbor for asking about the air conditioning," he added.
