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.

The brute — seen in a surveillance image obtained by The Post — 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.

Falzone was a high school teacher who lived an active life, and especially enjoyed the symphony, his neighbors recalled.

“He must [have] been coming home from wherever he was,” said neighbor Marc Stager, 78, who moved into Falzone’s Upper West Side building in 1981 and knew the senior since then. “He’s just a helpless old guy. What a cowardly and idiotic thing to do.”

Falzone was a “sweet and decent guy” who “wasn’t a hermit,” and made his career teaching English or history, Stager recalled.

“He must [have] been coming home from wherever he was. He’s just a helpless old guy. What a cowardly and idiotic thing to do,” he added of the attack.

“He worked as a high school teacher, maybe taught English or History, can’t be sure,” Stager said. “He had something of a life. He had a good pension and social security so he was financially secure.”

Moments before the deadly violence, the yet-to-be identified suspect trailed about 30 yards behind Falzone as he walked north on Seventh Avenue approaching 18th Street in Chelsea, authorities said.

As the men approached the train station at that intersection, the attacker allegedly sped up and violently shoved the innocent senior down the steps into the station, 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 Falzone unconscious and unresponsive, and medics rushed him to Bellevue Hospital, where he died just before 3 a.m. Friday, authorities said.

A 32-year-old pediatric doctor who has lived in the building for five years said Falzone lived a very active and independent life. 

“He lived in a walk up and was always out and about,” the doctor said. “I would see him if I was leaving for a late shift. 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.

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.

The person of interest, who has not yet been officially identified by the NYPD, was
“acting erratically” outside the NYPD’s 17th Precinct station house just before 3:30 p.m. Thursday — about six hours before the attack, cops said.

He allegedly grabbed a stick out of a garbage container and held it to his side while approaching an officer, police said.

Cops demanded that he drop the stick, which he did within about three seconds, cops said.

He was ultimately taken to Bellevue Hospital as an “emotionally disturbed person,” police said.

He was shuffled through the triage area and moved to the hospital’s Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program, which released him around 4:40 p.m., cops said.

His actions between his release and the time of the fatal shove were not immediately known.

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.

The keen-eyed pair recognized the fleeing culprit from his photo, cops said.

He was awaiting charges by the early evening.