The man accused of killing an elderly man by pushing him down a stairway at a Chelsea subway station was released from a psychiatric evaluation just hours before the attack, officials said, according to Fox News. Rhamell Burke, 32, made his first court appearance on Saturday, May 9.
He has been charged with second-degree murder for the May 7 attack.
Police said that surveillance video showed Burke violently shoving a man down the stairs at the 18th Street subway station around 9:30 pm that day. The video showed the victim, 76-year-old Ross Falzone, flying into the air and hitting his head on the steps. He then landed at the bottom of the staircase.
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Falzone was rushed to Bellevue Hospital by paramedics. He succumbed to his injuries overnight.
Who is Rhamell Burke? 5 things to know
Here are five things to know about Rhamell Burke:
- Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office said that Burke was taken to Bellevue hospital for a psychiatric evaluation just hours before the attack on Saturday. He was released after about one hour, then discharged, per officials.
- Police sources also told FOX 5 NY that Burke has been arrested as many as four times since February.
- Burke was taken to Bellevue after “acting erratically” outside the NYPD’s 17th Precinct station house just before 3:30 pm and wielding a stick he had grabbed out of a garbage container, police said, according to the New York Post.
- Burke was taken to Bellevue as an “emotionally disturbed person,” police said, before being shuffled through triage and into the hospital’s Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program. He was released around 4:40 pm.
- Burke was arraigned in court Saturday. A judge ordered that he be held without bail. He is due back in court on May 14
Here are five things to know about Rhamell Burke:
- Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office said that Burke was taken to Bellevue hospital for a psychiatric evaluation just hours before the attack on Saturday. He was released after about one hour, then discharged, per officials.
- Police sources also told FOX 5 NY that Burke has been arrested as many as four times since February.
- Burke was taken to Bellevue after “acting erratically” outside the NYPD’s 17th Precinct station house just before 3:30 pm and wielding a stick he had grabbed out of a garbage container, police said, according to the New York Post.
- Burke was taken to Bellevue as an “emotionally disturbed person,” police said, before being shuffled through triage and into the hospital’s Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program. He was released around 4:40 pm.
- Burke was arraigned in court Saturday. A judge ordered that he be held without bail. He is due back in court on May 14
“This happens all the time,” a high-ranking NYPD cop told the outlet, blasting the tragedy as a “complete collapse” of Mamdani’s response to mental illness.
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“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,” the cop said.
After the attack, Mamdani called for an investigation into NYC Health + Hospitals / Bellevue’s handling of Burke's psychiatric evaluation.
"I am horrified by the killing of Ross Falzone and the circumstances that led to it," the mayor said in a press release. "New Yorkers deserve answers."
He added, “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.”