A maniac repeat offender released from a psych ward after just an hour allegedly shoved an elderly man to his death down Manhattan subway steps in an unprovoked attack Thursday night — with an outraged poilce source blasting the killing as a “complete collapse” of City Hall’s approach to mental health.
Rhamell Burke — a 32-year-old serial troublemaker who has been arrested four times since February — mysteriously walked free from Bellevue Hospital about an hour after cops cuffed him and checked him in as an “emotionally disturbed person” around 3:30 p.m. Thursday, according to police.
The violent brute was released around 4:40 p.m. — and launched his fatal attack on 76-year-old stranger Ross Falzone, a retired special education teacher, at a Chelsea subway station about five hours later, while still sporting his hospital bracelet.
“This happens all the time,” a high-ranking NYPD cop told The Post Friday, slamming the tragedy as a “complete collapse” of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s response to mental illness.
“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.”
Police said Burke was hauled to Bellevue after “acting erratically” outside the NYPD’s 17th Precinct station house just before 3:30 p.m. and wielding a stick he had grabbed out of a garbage container.
The unhinged man was allegedly clutching the stick at his side as he approached an officer. Cops then demanded he drop it — which he did about three seconds later, police said.
The crazed suspect was then taken to the Manhattan medical center as an “emotionally disturbed person,” police said, then shuffled through triage and into the hospital’s Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program before being released around 4:40 p.m.
Around 9:30 p.m., Burke — seen in a surveillance image obtained by The Post — allegedly hurled Falzone, a retiree who lived an active life and enjoyed the symphony, down the steps leading to the No. 1 train station at West 18th Street and 7th Avenue in Chelsea.
“He wouldn’t hurt anybody. He’s a bag of bones. He’s not even 100 pounds,” Falzone’s distraught sister, Donna, told ABC 7.
Falzone was “just a caring and giving man. Gave everything to his family. Everything,” his sister said.
The victim’s family was furious that his alleged killer was even on the streets.
“This is really messed up. This could have been avoided,” Donna said.
Moments before the deadly attack, Burke trailed about 30 yards behind Falzone as he walked north on Seventh Avenue, authorities said.
As the men approached the train station at that intersection, the suspect allegedly sped up and violently shoved the innocent senior down the steps into the station before fleeing the scene, according to police.
Falzone landed on his head about halfway down the stairs and suffered a traumatic brain injury, right rib fracture and spinal fracture, cops said.
Officers found the victim unconscious and unresponsive, and medics rushed him to Bellevue Hospital, where he died just before 3 a.m. Friday, authorities said.
Mamdani called on Bellevue to probe the circumstances behind Burke’s evaluation and abrupt release.
“I am horrified by the killing of Ross Falzone and the circumstances that led to it,” Hizzoner said in a statement Friday night, extending his condolences to the victim’s loved ones.
“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.”
Bellevue, in response, said “We welcome this review, and we expect that it will find our care was appropriate.”
Burke was picked up by by two detectives on the northbound C and E platform of Penn Station around 3:30 p.m. Friday, authorities and sources said.
The keen-eyed pair recognized the fleeing culprit from his photo, cops said.
He was charged with murder on Friday night.
Burke has racked up four arrests in the last four months, police said.
He was busted three times in February — on Feb. 2 for allegedly assaulting a Port Authority police officer, again on Feb. 14 for burglary, and on Feb. 25 for resisting arrest.
The perp was then hauled in again on April 2 for allegedly assaulting a stranger. He was later granted supervised release at arraignment.
Meanwhile, Stager, the victim’s longtime neighbor, described him as a “sweet and decent guy” who built his career teaching English or history.
“He had something of a life,” Stager added.
“He had a good pension and social security so he was financially secure.”
Upstairs neighbor Briel Waxman, who is in her mid-30s and works in advertising, said she often heard classical music playing from Falzone’s unit.
“He went to live performances at Lincoln Center. I would often see him as I was coming back from a late night around midnight,” Waxman said.
A 32-year-old pediatric doctor who has lived in the building for five years said Falzone “lived in a walk up and was always out and about.”
“I would see him if I was leaving for a late shift,” the doctor said. “He’d be going out for dinner late just like any regular New Yorker.”
“He’s lived here for a very long time and he had many stories to tell about the building before its renovation,” the pediatrician added.