A Manhattan judge on Saturday ordered a man accused of killing a retired teacher in a random attack at a Chelsea train station — just hours after being released from a psychiatric E.R. at Bellevue — held without bail after prosecutors detailed a disturbing pattern of unhinged assaults against police and innocent bystanders in the city’s subway system.
“I have four open cases in front of me, and this latest case occurred while he has these other open cases, so I am going to remand the defendant,” Judge Linda Capitti said as Rhamell Burke stood before her beaming a smile during his arraignment for fatally shoving Ross Falzone at the 18th St. station.
Over the last four months, Burke has been arrested four times for crimes ranging from petit larceny to burglary to assault. Each time, he was freed without bail, according to court papers.
On Thursday, when police said he killed Falzone, cops earlier had taken Burke to Bellevue Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. He was released from the hospital within an hour, officials said.
“The State of New York is responsible for this tragedy,” Falzone’s heartbroken brother-in-law Richard told the Daily News Friday. “(They’re) responsible for his death.”
“(Ross) was a wonderful person and he was taken from this earth by a scum—,” Richard added. “This guy is out of his gourd, out of his mind. (The hospital) let him go and four or five hours later, he killed my brother-in-law.”
Courtesy of Chris Ford
Ross Falzone, 76, died after being shoved down the steps of a Chelsea subway station by a man released earlier in the day after undergoing a hospital psychiatric evaluation, police said. (Courtesy of Chris Ford)
The 6-foot-3 Burke smiled widely as Judge Capitti entered the courtroom on Saturday. He pleasantly responded to her questions during the brief arraignment and asked, “Is there anything else judge?” after he was charged with second-degree murder and taken to a jail cell.
His attorney Margaret DaRocha asked that Burke receive medical and psychiatric help while he was incarcerated. It wasn’t immediately clear if Capitti approved the request.
Falzone, 76, was heading into the 18th St. subway station at Seventh Ave. at around 9:30 p.m. Thursday when Burke shoved him from behind, sending the senior hurtling down the stairs.
“This murder was a completely unprovoked attack,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Alex Grayes told the judge. “They had no interaction or any sort of communication or altercation whatsoever between the defendant and victim at any point.”
Surveillance video recovered by police shows Burke walking behind Falzone, who pauses at the top of the stairs at the station’s entrance, before the suspect “approaches the victim from behind and using two hands forcibly shoves the victim down the entire set of stairs,” Grayes said.
“One can observe the victim propelled into the air on the stairs and land at the bottom of the staircase, where he does not move,” the prosecutor added.
The retired teacher struck his head on a step halfway down the stairs and suffered a massive brain injury. He died at Bellevue Hospital early Friday.
Burke, who is homeless, had been released from Bellevue Hospital after undergoing a psychiatric exam just five hours before he shoved Falzone down the stairs, police said.
NYC Health + Hospitals, the city agency that runs Bellevue, did not return a request for comment about Burke’s release. On Friday, Mayor Mamdani ordered an immediate investigation into the matter.
“I am horrified by the killing of Ross Falzone and the circumstances that led to it,” Mamdani said in a statement. “New Yorkers deserve answers.”
The mayor has also asked the state Health Department to conduct a review into Burke’s release.
Cops tracked down and arrested Burke, 32, at Penn Station on Friday afternoon. While being questioned by detectives, he admitted to shoving the retired teacher, a police source with knowledge of the case said.
Falzone’s friends and colleagues were left stunned by his senseless murder.
“He was a friend of mine for about 35 years,” Nancy Llewellyn said about the former teacher in a Facebook post. “He was a sweet, dear gentleman who enjoyed a career as a social worker for special needs children. I am sure he made a difference in many of their lives and the lives of their families.”
“I was saddened and shocked to hear of this horrific event on the news,” she added. “The man was arrested for murder. Hopefully now he will be kept away from innocent people and will, himself, be protected.”
Grayes said Burke had been arrested four times since Feb. 2, when he was accused of assaulting several Port Authority cops who tried to cuff him for stealing chips at a Duane Reade store inside the Westfield World Trade Center in the Financial District.
“The defendant injured three officers on scene,” the prosecutor said.
Not long after that, Burke was charged with burglary on Feb. 14 for kicking in the door to a supply closet and stealing a shovel inside the 23rd St. subway station on the No. 1 Line in Chelsea. He also hurled a garbage can onto the tracks, forcing a train to be taken out of service, officials said.
On Feb. 25, Burke was arrested for resisting arrest, along with drug and weapons charges, after police caught him lying on a bench and taking up multiple seats on a southbound C train at the Jay St.-MetroTech station in Downtown Brooklyn.
After he ignored orders to vacate the train, police moved to cuff Burke, only for the suspect to kick one of the officers. He was later found to be in possession of a kitchen knife, crack pipe and syringe needle, cops said.
After each arrest, he was released without bail or given supervised release, under which he would be enrolled in a program to ensure his return to court.
On April 2, Burke was arrested once again, this time for attacking a 22-year-old man on a train entering the W. Fourth St. station in Greenwich Village and shoving the man’s girlfriend.
“(He) tried to speak with the victim and his girlfriend on the subway,” Grayes said. “When they tried to move to the next train car, the defendant kicked the victim in the back and pushed the victim’s girlfriend.”
When Burke was brought to court on misdemeanor assault and harassment charges, prosecutors asked that he be held on $3,000 bail, but, once again, a judge gave him supervised release, according to court documents.
Six hours before he attacked Falzone on Thursday, Burke was recorded outside the 17th Precinct stationhouse on E. 51st St. armed with a stick he had pulled out of a garbage can.
Body-worn camera footage shows Burke talking with the cop for about three seconds before he dropped the stick, police said.
Officers brought him to Bellevue at 3:39 p.m., cops said. At Bellevue, Burke underwent a quick psychiatric evaluation and was promptly released from the hospital at 4:39 p.m. — just an hour later.
Falzone, a gifted special education teacher, grew up in Pennsylvania, but had a unique love of New York City, where he lived for decades, his family said.
“Ross loved museums, he just loved New York,” his brother-in-law Richard said. “That’s where he found his work. He made his living there. He loved it.”
“He worked his whole life (in) special education,” the heartbroken relative added. “It’s one of the toughest jobs you’ll ever have in your life.”
Falzone would go back to Pennsylvania on the holidays, and Richard’s wife and son had just visited him in New York a few weeks ago, he said.
“They were just there for a visit because my son had a day off from work. He said, ‘Let’s go see Uncle Ross,’” Richard remembered. “He was a wonderful person and did not deserve this to happen to him.”