Curtis Sliwa has always defended the helpless and downtrodden on the streets of New York City. That philosophy applies to everyone he encounters as the leader of the Guardian Angels, particularly the homeless, who have very few voices that care about their well-being. Applying a case-by-case basis when dealing with what he calls “one size does not fit all emotional-disturbed people,” Curtis explored how the inattention- if not indifference- of the city cost one man his life at the hands of an emotionally disturbed homeless person.
32-year-old Rhamell Burke was arrested Friday in Penn Station after he allegedly shoved 76-year-old Ross Falzone down the steps of the 18th Street subway station in Chelsea the night before. Falzone died after striking his head on the steps; surveillance video showed Burke calmly walking away from the scene as though nothing had happened. What made the assault particularly shocking, however, is that it most likely never had to happen. Burke had been picked up on Thursday afternoon after he had been acting out in front of the 17th Precinct station house and taken to Bellevue for “observation.” That is normally a three-day procedure, but Burke was released from Bellevue after only one hour.
Curtis set the scene by explaining what should have happened versus what actually did happen after cops brought Burke in for observation: “They go on Second Avenue, bring him to Bellevue for a psychiatric observation. He’s in one hour, [starting at] 4 o’clock, and the shrinks cut him loose at five. Now, Larry, I’ve had experience in watching how these psychiatric observations operate… They have to hold you for 72 hours, if they’re doing it right, because how are you going to observe them in one hour? And they didn’t hold him for three days- I’d like to know who the shrinks were who did this, just like we publicize judges who cut criminals loose, or the D.A.’s who won’t enforce the law.”
Curtis expanded on that line of reasoning when summing up how and why the doctors failed everyone involved: “We need to be able to know how, within one hour, could you take somebody who clearly was out of control, that was not in control of his mental faculties, and cut him loose back into the streets where, just a few hours later, he murdered this guy who was just walking down the steps of the 18th Street subway the number 1 train, in Chelsea.”
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