Overview
- Police charged 32-year-old Rhamell Burke after he allegedly shoved 76-year-old Ross Falzone down the 18th Street station stairs Thursday night, with several outlets reporting he had just been evaluated at Bellevue Hospital.
- Mayor Zohran Mamdani directed NYC Health + Hospitals to launch an immediate investigation and a broader review of psychiatric evaluation and discharge protocols.
- Coverage notes Burke’s recent arrests, including an alleged assault on a Port Authority officer in February and an April 2 subway incident that led to an arrest.
- A 23-year-old woman from the April subway case said she declined to cooperate with prosecutors at the time and now regrets it, saying she did not want to put another Black man in jail.
- An unnamed NYPD official told the New York Post that quick releases from Bellevue happen frequently, intensifying scrutiny of short psychiatric holds and their public safety risks.