Probe into why suspect in subway shove death was released from psychiatric hold [View all]

CHELSEA, Manhattan (WABC) -- The man charged with murder in the fatal shoving of a 76-year-old man at a Chelsea subway station was released from psychiatric hold mere hours earlier, police say.

Police say their suspect, 32-year-old Rhamell Burke, came up behind the victim, 76-year-old Ross Falzone, and pushed him down the 18th Street station stairs just after 9:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Officers encountered him acting erratically outside the 17th Precinct stationhouse on East 51st Street at around 3:30 p.m Burke was taken to Bellevue Hospital in a police cruiser, arriving at 3:39 p.m. He underwent a psychiatric evaluation at the hospital and was released later that afternoon.

Detectives say Burke shoved Falzone to his death about five hours after his release from Bellevue. Burke has had four prior arrests since February, including for assault on a Port Authority police officer and for assault of a stranger, for which he was on supervised release.

https://abc7ny.com/post/suspect-fatally-shoved-man-down-subway-stairs-chelsea-had-been-released-psych-hold-police-say/19069492/