(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A woman who declined to testify against a repeat offender accused of assaulting her now says she regrets the decision after the suspect allegedly went on to kill a retired New York City teacher weeks later.
The suspect, Rhamell Burke, is accused of shoving 76-year-old retired teacher Ross Falzone down a flight of subway stairs on Thursday, leaving him with fatal injuries. Burke’s criminal record reportedly includes assault on a police officer, assault on a stranger and two other offenses, according to media reports.
One of Burke’s previous alleged victims, a 23-year-old woman, told the New York Post on Friday that she chose not to cooperate with prosecutors because she did not want to put “another black man in jail.”
“I regret it 100% and I actually feel really bad that a man lost his life,” she said.
Liberal woman who refused to cooperate with prosecutors after maniac attacked her on subway weeks before he pushed retired NYC teacher to death has regrets: "Maybe a part of me was just like, I don’t want to put another black man in jail." https://t.co/QihuYD552f
— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) May 9, 2026
The woman told the outlet that on April 2, Burke approached her and a friend on a Manhattan subway before becoming aggressive when she rejected his apparent advances.
Burke reportedly yanked her by the back of her head, tried to push her to the ground and also kicked her friend.
“My friend freaks out, runs away, and then he grabs me by the head and pushes my head down, trying to like maybe throw me on the ground or something,” she said. “But I didn’t, I resisted as much as I could. I didn’t fall, and then I immediately opened up the car and then ran towards my friend.”
As chaos unfolded, the train stopped at a nearby station, allowing the women to escape while Burke allegedly chased after them. Police officers were nearby and quickly arrested him, she told the Post.
“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,” the woman continued. “They immediately arrested him. It was shut down really fast by the cops and we respected that.”
Burke was seemingly taken to Bellevue Hospital on Thursday—just two weeks after he was originally detained—but was released shortly afterward.
Within hours, Burke allegedly shoved Falzone down subway stairs at another station. The retired teacher died before 3 a.m. Friday after suffering a traumatic brain injury along with fractures to his spine and ribs. Authorities are investigating the case as a homicide.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani appeared to place blame on the hospital system following the incident.
“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,” he said.
