Overview
- Ross Falzone, 76, was pushed from behind down the West 18th Street–Seventh Avenue subway stairs Thursday night and later died at Bellevue Hospital.
- Police said Friday afternoon the suspected attacker is back in custody after an overnight search.
- Hours before the shove, officers encountered the same man acting erratically outside the 17th Precinct around 3:30 p.m. and brought him to Bellevue for a psychiatric evaluation, where he was released about an hour later.
- Detectives say the attack appeared unprovoked and they are investigating the death as a homicide, and witnesses described the suspect as a man in his 20s or 30s in a black shirt and shorts with a red and black fanny pack.
- Falzone lived on the Upper West Side and suffered a fractured spine and traumatic brain injury, and police noted this is the first homicide this year in the 13th Precinct as they canvass for surveillance video.