A 76-year-old man originally from Jessup, Lackawanna County, has died following a violent, unprovoked attack in a New York City subway station last Thursday. The victim, Ross Falzone, was a retired special education teacher who had lived on Manhattan’s Upper West Side for decades. According to the NYPD, Falzone was shoved down a subway entrance stairway at West 18th Street and 7th Avenue in Chelsea. He suffered a fractured spine and a traumatic brain injury, ultimately succumbing to his wounds at Bellevue Hospital.
Police have arrested 32-year-old Rhamell Burke and charged him with murder in connection to the death. The tragedy has sparked outrage following revelations that Burke was in police custody just hours before the attack. Officers had encountered Burke acting erratically and brandishing a stick outside a precinct on Thursday afternoon and transported him to Bellevue Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. However, he was released from the hospital less than an hour later; five hours after his release, he allegedly followed and shoved Falzone down the stairs.
Burke, who has a history of several recent arrests for unprovoked assaults, was denied bail during his initial court appearance. In response to the incident, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has ordered an immediate investigation into Bellevue Hospital’s psychiatric evaluation and discharge protocols to determine why a potentially dangerous individual was released so quickly.
