A maniac just released from a psych ward pushed an elderly man to his death down Manhattan subway steps in a brutal unprovoked attack late Thursday, police said.<\/p>\n
The brute \u2014 seen in a surveillance image obtained by The Post \u2014 allegedly hurled total stranger Ross Falzone, 76, down the steps leading to the No. 1 train station at West 18th Street and 7th Avenue around 9:30 p.m., cops said. <\/p>\n
Falzone was a high school teacher who lived an active life, and especially enjoyed the symphony, his neighbors recalled.<\/p>\n
The person of interest, seen in a surveillance image, allegedly trailed Falzone for about 30 yards before rushing him. Obtained by NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cHe must [have] been coming home from wherever he was,\u201d said neighbor Marc Stager, 78, who moved into Falzone\u2019s Upper West Side building in 1981 and knew the senior since then. \u201cHe\u2019s just a helpless old guy. What a cowardly and idiotic thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moments before the deadly violence, the suspect trailed about 30 yards behind Falzone as he walked north on Seventh Avenue approaching 18th Street in Chelsea, authorities said.<\/p>\n
As the men approached the train station at that intersection, the attacker allegedly sped up and violently shoved him down the steps into the station, according to police.<\/p>\n
Falzone landed on his head about halfway down the stairs and suffered a traumatic brain injury, right rib fracture and spinal fracture, cops said.<\/p>\n
Officers found Falzone unconscious and unresponsive, and medics rushed him to Bellevue Hospital, where he died just before 3 a.m. Friday, authorities said. <\/p>\n
A 32-year-old pediatric doctor who has lived in the building for five years said Falzone lived a very active and independent life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The brute allegedly approached Ross Falzone, 76, of the Upper West Side, and hurled him down the steps leading to the No. 1 train station at West 18th Street and 7th Avenue around 9:30 p.m., according to cops and sources. James Messerschmidt for the NY Post<\/p>\n
The attacker spent time at Bellevue Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation hours earlier, police said. Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Post<\/p>\n
\u201cHe lived in a walk up and was always out and about,\u201d the doctor said. \u201cI would see him if I was leaving for a late shift. He\u2019d be going out for dinner late just like any regular New Yorker.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s lived here for a very long time and he had many stories to tell about the building before its renovation,\u201d the pediatrician added.<\/p>\n
Upstairs neighbor Briel Waxman, who is in her mid-30s and works in advertising, said she often heard classical music playing from Falzone\u2019s unit.<\/p>\n
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\u201cHe went to live performances at Lincoln Center. I would often see him as I was coming back from a late night around midnight,\u201d Waxman said.<\/p>\n
Stager said Falzone was a teacher.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe worked as a high school teacher, maybe taught English or History, can\u2019t be sure,\u201d he said. \u201cHe had something of a life. He had a good pension and social security so he was financially secure.\u201d<\/p>\n
The person of interest, whose name has not been released by the NYPD, was \u201cacting erratically\u201d outside the NYPD\u2019s 17th Precinct station house just before 3:30 p.m. Thursday \u2014 about six hours before the attack, cops said.<\/p>\n
He allegedly grabbed a stick out of a garbage container and held it to his side while approaching an officer, police said.<\/p>\n
Cops demanded that he drop the stick, which he did within about three seconds, cops said.<\/p>\n
The suspect, who initially fled the scene, was picked up Friday afternoon, cops said.<\/p>\n
He was ultimately taken to Bellevue Hospital as an \u201cemotionally disturbed person,\u201d police said.<\/p>\n
He was shuffled through the triage area and moved to the hospital\u2019s Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program, which released him around 4:40 p.m., cops said.<\/p>\n
His actions between his release and the time of the fatal shove were not immediately known.<\/p>\n
The suspected assailant was picked up by two detectives on the northbound C and E platform of Penn Station around 3:30 p.m. Friday, authorities and sources said. <\/p>\n
The keen-eyed pair recognized the fleeing culprit from his photo, cops said. <\/p>\n
He was awaiting charges by the early evening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A maniac just released from a psych ward pushed an elderly man to his death down Manhattan subway…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":782831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,12937,461,4219,4221,5248,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-782830","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-assaults","10":"tag-chelsea","11":"tag-crime","12":"tag-homicide","13":"tag-metro","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkcity","18":"tag-ny","19":"tag-nyc","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-us-news","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116541166115362384","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=782830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=782830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=782830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=782830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}