Overview
- Ross Falzone, 76, was pushed down the 18th Street subway stairs in Chelsea around 9:30 p.m. Thursday and died hours later at Bellevue Hospital, according to police.
- Police identified 32-year-old Rhamell Burke as the suspect, citing surveillance video that shows a man walking behind Falzone and shoving him down the steps.
- Burke, who officers brought to Bellevue for a psychiatric evaluation around 3:30 p.m. Thursday and who was released about an hour later, was arrested Friday at Penn Station.
- Burke was arraigned Saturday on second-degree murder, ordered held without bail, and is due back in court May 14, court officials and local outlets reported.
- Mayor Zohran Mamdani directed NYC Health + Hospitals to conduct a root-cause review and asked the state health department to examine how Bellevue evaluates and discharges people brought in by police, a process that often results in quick release when doctors find no legal grounds to hold someone; records show Burke had multiple recent arrests, including an April subway assault.