Cleveland women’s rescuer stays humble

A ride in a Rolls-Royce. A tour of the presidential yacht. Still, Charles Ramsey is eager to just get back to his dishwasher job.

WASHINGTON — Charles Ramsey, the Cleveland dishwasherwho heard a scream, kicked in a door and rescued three women from captivity, stepped out of a RollsRoyce in Washington on Friday, and seconds later was on Alex Soto’s Facebook page.

“You’re kidding me,” shouted Soto, who was strolling by with his girlfriend when Ramsey emerged from the RollsRoyce. “You’re, like, a lifesaver. I’ve been watching this on the news all the time, and here you are! This isFacebook material!”

ItwasDay 5 of Ramsey’s moment, and he had already morphed from hero to celebrity. He was flown to Washington by boxing promoter and radio talk show host Rock Newman for a 14-hour visit that included a private tour of the presidential yacht and an appearance on Newman’s radio show.

Then back to the airport and home to Cleveland, where more madness awaits.

As does his dishwashing job at Hodge’s Restaurant, where he intends to report at 4 p.m. Monday despite a crazed week in which he told his story to the likes of CNN’sAnderson Cooper, a slew of FBI agents and random passers-by.

“Iwork for a living, man, and I will until I’m terminated,” he said. “I was suspended from work, so I gotta show. I live up to my obligation.”

Ramsey, 43, was at work a couple of weeks ago when he leaned over and a couple of rounds of ammo from an AK-47 dropped out of his pocket. He didn’t have a weapon; the rounds were souvenirs from a friend who had just returned from serving in Afghanistan, he said, but his boss sent Ramsey home.

The punishment was painful — losing a $269 weekly paycheck — but ultimately fortuitous, because, as Ramsey said, “If I hadn’t been suspended, I wouldn’t have been at home to hear the scream.”

Amanda Berry’s first shout for help, whichRamsey heard as he ate a Big Mac in his living roomnext door, “was a scream you never heard before,” he said on Newman’s show. Ramsey found the woman locked behind a screen door. He tried to open it with one hand, pulling as she pushed.

“I’m debating to put the BigMac down or finishmy sandwich,” he said. “I’m not letting go because I just bought it. I couldn’t figure out why she was freaking out.” Finally, he put the burger down, pulled with two hands and then kicked out the bottom panel of the door, springing Berry.

She asked him to call 911, and Ramsey told her to do it. “I don’t know how,” she replied, staring at his smartphone. “I’ve been gone for a while.”

Ramsey made clear that he felt wronged by his neighbor. If he’d gotten his hands on Ariel Castro, the neighbor charged with the three kidnappings, “I’d be in the penitentiary,” he said. “I’d be the first person to take a man’s head off and kick it down the street like a soccer ball.”

Thanks to that kind of frank talk, the Ramsey phenomenon shows no sign of abating. His original TV interview about the rescue has drawn nearly 7 million views on YouTube.