Mamdani orders Bellevue review after Rhamell Burke release
Mayor Zohran Mamdani ordered an investigation into Bellevue Hospital's psychiatric evaluation and discharge procedures after rhamell burke was released there and, police said, later shoved Ross Falzone down a Chelsea subway staircase. Falzone died hours later, and police are treating the death as a homicide.
Bellevue release and subway attack
Police said Burke, 32, had been picked up once already that day outside the 17th Precinct stationhouse on the East Side. Officers said he was acting erratically and brandished a stick as they approached him, then an officer defused the situation and he was taken to Bellevue for a psychiatric evaluation.
Police said Burke was released shortly afterward. Five hours later, they said, he apparently shoved Falzone to his death in an unprovoked attack at the No. 1 subway station in Chelsea.
Ross Falzone on West 85th Street
Officers responding to a 911 call at 9:30 p.m. on Thursday found Falzone unconscious and unresponsive. He was pronounced dead at 3 a.m. on Friday at Bellevue Hospital after suffering a traumatic brain injury, a fractured spine and a broken rib.
Falzone lived on West 85th Street, was 76 years old and had been a retired Upper West Side special education teacher. He held a doctoral degree from Columbia University. His sister, Donna Falzone, said, "There’s no amount of anger that we can express, and shock," and added, "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."
Mamdani orders Bellevue review
Mamdani said, "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". His review will examine how Bellevue handles psychiatric evaluations and discharge procedures within the public hospital system.
The sequence of police encounters is now central to that review: Burke was taken from the street to Bellevue, released, and five hours later Falzone was dead. Police said Burke was arrested after the subway attack and that Falzone's death is being investigated as a homicide.
