The man accused of butchering a veteran FDNY lieutenant is still not medically cleared to be arraigned on murder charges, law-enforcement sources said Monday — as the victim’s family prepared to hold her wake.
Peter Zisopoulos, 34, has been at the Bellevue Hospital Prison Ward undergoing a psychiatric evaluation since Friday, after police slapped him with second-degree murder and weapon possession raps for the unprovoked stabbing that killed paramedic Alison Russo-Elling.
On Friday afternoon, Queens prosecutors were ready to arraign him on the charges and filed a criminal complaint against him in court, but soon after he left the 114th precinct, the suspect was brought to the hospital for the evaluation.
Since then, prosecutors have been waiting for doctors to medically clear Zisopoulos for the arraignment, sources said. It’s unlikely he’ll be stable enough Monday to face the charges, they said.
Meanwhile, a tearful wake for Russo-Elling was set to be held Monday and Tuesday at the Commack Abbey Funeral Home on Long Island. Mayor Eric Adams is scheduled to make an appearance at the wake Monday.
On Thursday afternoon, Russo-Elling, a 24-year veteran with the FDNY who worked as a paramedic out of EMS unit Station 49 in Astoria, was violently attacked around the corner from where she worked.
The 61-year-old lieutenant had just grabbed a sandwich from a bodega near 41st Street and 20th Avenue when Zisopoulos allegedly tore after her, knocked her to the ground and and repeatedly stabbed her in a frenzy, police said.
She was rushed to the hospital but could not be saved.
In 2018, Zisopoulos was taken to the hospital for being emotionally disturbed after he allegedly made anti-Asian threats on Facebook, law-enforcement sources said.
At the time, he was listed as being diagnosed with schizophrenia, sources said.
Additional reporting by Bernadette Hogan