NYC suspect freed from psych hold hours before fatal subway shoving of 76-year-old former teacher

NYC suspect freed from psych hold hours before fatal subway shoving of 76-year-old former teacher

Rhamell Burke, 32, allegedly shoved 76-year-old former teacher Ross Falzone down Manhattan subway stairs

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32-year-old Rhamell Burke had just been released from a psych ward when he allegedly shoved an elderly man down a flight of stairs to his death Thursday night in Manhattan, according to the New York Post.

Cops detained Burke and took him to Bellevue Hospital on Thursday afternoon, a New York Police Department source told Fox News Digital.

The officers reportedly marked him down as an "emotionally disturbed person," according to the Post.

But a little over an hour later, Burke was released. Five hours after that, Burke allegedly pushed 76-year-old former teacher Ross Falzone down a flight of subway stairs in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, killing the elderly man, an NYPD source confirmed to Fox News Digital.

Police told the Post that Burke had been "acting erratically" outside an NYPD station house when they arrested him. He was allegedly wielding a stick that he had grabbed from a garbage can.

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32-year-old Rhamell Burke is alleged to have pushed and killed 76-year-old Ross Falzone on Thursday. Burke had been released from Bellevue Hospital's psych ward hours before the alleged killing. (WNYW)

"We brought him in at 3:30 p.m. and he was released just before 5 p.m. Meanwhile, if you or I walked into Bellevue for a headache, it would take 8 hours just to be seen. NYPD uses its involuntary removal powers all the time. And they just get right out with an Advil," one high-ranking NYPD officer reportedly told the Post.

Officers reportedly found Falzone unconscious and unresponsive and rushed him to Bellevue where he was pronounced dead.

Authorities said he had suffered a traumatic brain injury, right rib fracture and spinal fracture, according to the Post.

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"He’s just a helpless old guy. What a cowardly and idiotic thing to do," Falzone's neighbor Marc Stager told the Post.

When officers arrested Burke on Thursday, it was his fifth arrest of 2026. He had been picked up for alleged robbery, resisting arrest and allegedly assaulting a Port Authority police officer in February and was also arrested on charges of allegedly assaulting a stranger in April, according to the Post.

Rhamell Burke, 32, is seen being escorted by New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers after allegedly fatally shoving 76-year-old Ross Falzone down a flight of subway stairs. (WNYW)

"There's no amount of anger that we can express, and shock," Falzone's sister, Donna, told ABC7 Eyewitness News. "I mean, to get a call like that at 4 in the morning, you know, just, you know, to find out your brother's minding his own business, three witnesses, and push down the steps and left for dead."

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Donna also revealed that her brother was a retired special education teacher with a doctorate from Columbia University.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a city probe into Bellevue's handling of Burke's psychiatric evaluation in the wake of the killing.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a May Day rally at Washington Square Park in New York City on May 1, 2026. (Yuki Iwamura/AP)

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"I am horrified by the killing of Ross Falzone and the circumstances that led to it. I extend my condolences to his loved ones," Mamdani said in a statement.

"New Yorkers deserve answers. That is why I’ve directed NYC Health + Hospitals to conduct both an immediate investigation on what steps should have been taken to prevent this tragedy and a comprehensive review of their psychiatric evaluation and discharge protocols," he said.

Fox News Digital contacted the NYPD, the mayor's office and Bellevue Hospital for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

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