Man Released from Psych Ward Hours Earlier Charged in Fatal Shove of 76-Year-Old in NYC Subway

A 32-year-old man released from a psych ward hours earlier allegedly shoved a 76-year-old former teacher down a flight of subway stairs to his death Thursday night in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, according to the New York Post.

Police detained Rhamell Burke and took him to Bellevue Hospital on Thursday afternoon, an NYPD source told Fox News Digital. Officers marked him as an "emotionally disturbed person," the Post reported.

A little over an hour later, Burke was released. Five hours after that, he allegedly pushed Ross Falzone down the stairs, killing the elderly man, the NYPD source confirmed to Fox News Digital.

Police said Burke had been acting erratically outside an NYPD station house when they arrested him. He was wielding a stick grabbed from a garbage can.

"We brought him in at 3:30 p.m. and he was released just before 5 p.m. Meanwhile, if you or I walked into Bellevue for a headache, it would take 8 hours just to be seen. NYPD uses its involuntary removal powers all the time. And they just get right out with an Advil," a high-ranking NYPD officer told the Post.

Officers found Falzone unconscious and unresponsive and rushed him to Bellevue, where he was pronounced dead. He suffered a traumatic brain injury, right rib fracture and spinal fracture.

"He’s just a helpless old guy. What a cowardly and idiotic thing to do," Falzone's neighbor Marc Stager told the Post.

Thursday's arrest was Burke's fifth of 2026. He had been picked up for alleged robbery, resisting arrest and assaulting a Port Authority police officer in February, and for allegedly assaulting a stranger in April.

"There's no amount of anger that we can express, and shock," Falzone's sister Donna told ABC7 Eyewitness News. "I mean, to get a call like that at 4 in the morning, you know, just, you know, to find out your brother's minding his own business, three witnesses, and push down the steps and left for dead."

Donna said her brother was a retired special education teacher with a doctorate from Columbia University.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a city probe into Bellevue's handling of Burke's psychiatric evaluation.

"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 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," he said.

Fox News Digital contacted the NYPD, the mayor's office and Bellevue Hospital for comment but did not immediately receive a response.