“He Was a Scary Guy”: Woman Recalls Violent Subway Encounter With Suspect in Elderly Man’s Death

A woman who was attacked by a man accused of killing an elderly man in Chelsea recently shared her story.

"He was a scary guy," the woman recalled.

The suspect, who was identified as Rhamell Burke, pushed 76-year-old Ross Falzone down the stairs at a subway station on Thursday at West 18th Street and 7th Avenue. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital in critical condition and later pronounced dead.

In a phone interview with the New York Post, published on May 8, 2026, the 23-year-old woman recalled that she and her friend were riding a subway in Manhattan on April 2 when the man, identified as Rhamell Burke, tried to start a conversation with them, but they ignored him and moved to another subway car.

However, the man followed them, grabbed her by her hair and threw her onto the ground, and even kicked her friend in the back. The woman claimed that Burke even pushed her friend through the connecting area between cars.

She recalled that her friend “freaked out” and fled, after which he grabbed her by the head and pushed her head down, in an attempt to throw her to the ground. However, she resisted "as much as I could," and "immediately opened up the car and then ran towards my friend."

The train fortunately stopped at the West 4th Street-Washington Square Station in Greenwich Village, and the pair ran off the train to escape the situation.

However, the situation turned tense for the victims when they got off West 4th Street and found the man was still following them.

"That’s when I was like: ‘Oh, like, this is scary. Like, why is he following us?" The woman stated.

As they noticed the man, they began "running a little bit," but fortunately spotted police officers, who later arrested him.

"We started running a little bit, but then thank God the cops were right there because, I mean, we kept thinking about, imagine that there were no cops, we would have had to literally run for our lives. They immediately arrested him. It was shut down really fast by the cops and we respected that," she stated.

Still shaken by the incident, the woman admitted she did not cooperate with prosecutors initially, which she now regrets since Burke was arrested in the elderly man's killing.

Burke, who was charged with assault, was granted supervised release, but was again taken into custody on Thursday when, around 3:30 p.m., authorities found him acting erratically outside the 17th Precinct stationhouse, CBS News reported.

He was later transported to Bellevue Hospital for evaluation and was released at 4:39 p.m.

Authorities said the fatal encounter occurred shortly after Burke’s released.

According to surveillance footage, the 76-year-old, identified as Ross Falzone, a former teacher, was arriving at the subway station when Burke followed him and pushed him down the stairs.

Following the incident, Burke was arrested on Friday and was charged with murder.

The above-mentioned 23-year-old woman said she now deeply regrets not pursuing the case more seriously against Burke after her own encounter with him, especially after she learned he killed Ross.

"I regret it 100% and I actually feel really bad that a man lost his life," the woman said. "Maybe a part of me was just like, I don’t want to put another black man in jail, but, you know, at some point, if you are a criminal, you’re a criminal, and he was scary."