FILE – Police at a crime scene in Manhattan.
Photo by Dean Moses
A homeless man booked on murder charges for allegedly shoving a man down a flight of stairs to his death in Chelsea on Thursday had been discharged from Bellevue Hospital’s psychiatric ward hours before the homicide, it was reported.
The suspect, identified as 32-year-old Rhamell Burke, allegedly attacked 76-year-old Ross Falzone at the entrance to the 18th Street station in an unprovoked assault at 9:36 p.m. on May 7.
Burke had allegedly committed the crime hours after being discharged from Bellevue, where he had been brought by police on Thursday afternoon for a psychiatric evaluation. On Friday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani ordered an investigation into how hospital administrators had allowed Burke to leave so quickly.
“I am horrified by the killing of Ross Falzone and the circumstances that led to it. I extend my condolences to his loved ones,” Mamdani said in a May 8 statement. “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.”
Officers from the 13th Precinct located Falzone at the station entrance located at the corner of West 18th Street and 7th Avenue after receiving a 911 call about the assault. The victim was unconscious and unresponsive; citing officials, ABC7 reported that Falzone had suffered a traumatic brain injury as well as a broken spine and rib.
EMS rushed him to Bellevue Hospital in critical condition; he would later die of his injuries.
Sources familiar with the investigation said Burke was located at about 3:30 p.m. on May 8 on the uptown platform of the C/E trains at the 34th Street-Penn Station stop. Transit police took him into custody without further incident.
Citing preliminary information from the NYPD, the Mayor’s office said the suspect had been brought by police to Bellevue Hospital on Thursday afternoon for a psychiatric evaluation; published reports indicated cops picked him up acting erratically outside the 17th Precinct stationhouse in Midtown.
Burke remained at the hospital for about one hour before he was discharged. The release occurred about five hours before Falzone was fatally attacked, the Mayor’s office said.
Upon receiving this information, Mamdani ordered NYC Health + Hospitals, which operates Bellevue, “to conduct a root cause analysis” and internally review the hospital’s psychiatric evaluation procedures “with a particular focus on protocols related to psychosis, crisis assessment and discharge decisions,” according to the Mayor’s office.
Mamdani also asked the state Health Department to investigate the handling of Burke’s evaluation and similar cases at Bellevue Hospital to identify any gaps or problems in the system. The Mayor’s office said the state agency has agreed to launch a full-scale review.
