A repeat offender accused of shoving a retired teacher to his death in a Manhattan subway station was still wearing a hospital psychiatric bracelet when he launched the deadly attack, police said.
The horrifying killing of 76-year-old Ross Falzone has triggered an investigation into how a man, with multiple recent arrests, was evaluated and discharged from Bellevue Hospital barely an hour after police brought him there on Thursday afternoon.
Police say Rhamell Burke, 32, pushed Falzone down a staircase leading into the 18th Street subway station in Chelsea at 9:30pm on Thursday in a random, unprovoked assault.
Falzone suffered catastrophic injuries, including a traumatic brain injury, fractured spine and broken rib.
He was rushed to Bellevue Hospital – the same hospital Burke had been released from hours earlier – where he died shortly before 3am Friday.
The killing has intensified scrutiny of New York City‘s handling of mental illness, repeat offenders and involuntary psychiatric evaluations.
A senior NYPD source blasted the situation to the New York Post as a ‘complete collapse’ of City Hall’s approach to mental health.
According to police, Burke’s interaction with authorities began around 3:30pm. Thursday outside the NYPD’s 17th Precinct stationhouse on East 51st Street.
Police say Rhamell Burke was released from Bellevue Hospital roughly five hours before the deadly subway attack on Ross Falzone, pictured
Authorities allege Burke shoved 76-year-old retired teacher Ross Falzone down the subway stairs at the 18th Street station in Chelsea in Manhattan
Police said Burke was acting erratically and had grabbed a stick from a pile of trash before approaching officers.
Authorities ordered him to drop the stick, which he did seconds later.
Officers then transported him to Bellevue Hospital as an emotionally disturbed person for psychiatric evaluation.
Brad Weekes, assistant commissioner of public information for the NYPD, said Burke arrived at the hospital around 3:40pm and was taken into Bellevue’s Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program for evaluation and treatment but was released approximately an hour later.
Roughly five hours after walking out of Bellevue, police say Burke encountered Falzone on Seventh Avenue near West 18th Street.
Surveillance footage reviewed by investigators allegedly showed Burke walking about 30 yards behind the retired teacher before suddenly rushing forward and violently shoving him down the subway stairs.
Police later circulated surveillance images that appeared to show Burke still wearing his hospital bracelet after the attack. The suspect fled the scene, leaving Falzone unconscious on the station staircase.
Responding officers found Falzone unresponsive before medics transported him to Bellevue, where he later died.
Falzone suffered a traumatic brain injury, fractured spine and broken rib after being shoved down the stairs. He died at Bellevue Hospital early on Friday
Mayor Zohran Mamdani ordered an immediate investigation into Bellevue’s handling of Burke’s psychiatric evaluation and release.
‘I am horrified by the killing of Ross Falzone and the circumstances that led to it,’ Mamdani said in a statement on Friday.
The mayor said NYC Health and Hospitals would conduct ‘an immediate investigation on what steps should have been taken to prevent this tragedy’ and also ordered a broader review of psychiatric evaluation and discharge procedures across the city’s public hospital system.
The New York State Department of Health is also expected to participate in the investigation.
Police tracked Burke down Friday afternoon inside Penn Station, where two detectives recognized him from surveillance images and took him into custody.
By Friday evening, Burke was awaiting charges.
Authorities said Burke had already been arrested four times in just the past few months.
His recent arrests included allegations of assaulting a Port Authority police officer on February 2, burglary on February 14, resisting arrest on February 25 and assaulting another person on April 2.
Despite the repeated arrests, Burke had been granted supervised release after at least one of the incidents, according to police.
Neighbors on the Upper West Side where Falzone lived remembered him as a gentle, cultured longtime New Yorker who loved music, conversation and live performances at Lincoln Center.
Marc Stager, 78, who lived next door to Falzone for decades, described him as ‘a helpless old guy’ and said he was ‘disappointed and shocked, frankly, that somebody could do such a thing’ to a defenseless elderly man.
Stager said Falzone was a warm and talkative neighbor who had recently been recovering from surgery and appeared happier and more mobile in recent weeks.
