One good Samaritan in Cincinnati can now have free hot dogs for life. In the first day of rioting, while vandals ran through downtown streets Tuesday, one man stopped to help.

        Navy Petty Officer Patrick Tierney was headed back to his office when he stopped at a red light at Court and Main streets. A group of teen-agers tried to grab him out of his car, but he sped away.

        As he hit the gas pedal, though, he noticed rioters were assaulting George the Hot Dog Guy, a man with whom the petty officer had never had a conversation, though he'd bought a hot dog from him a time or two.

        He circled the block and found George Psihountakis, a vendor who has been at the courthouse for 20 years, being hit by soda cans while trying to pick up his broken cart.

        He stopped to defend the man.

        After he helped Mr. Psihountakis, the vendor offered him free dogs from now on.

        “This guy was not even supposed to be involved,” Mr. Psihountakis said. “You don't often find people like that.”

        As for Petty Officer Tierney, he was just doing his job.

        “Maybe the uniform presence helped a little bit,” he said.

        But will Petty Officer Tierney take him up on the offer?

        “As long as he's got sauerkraut on them,” he said, laughing. “It's good to know if I'm hungry, I can go find George.”

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