Prison looms for train-obsessed autistic man - Darius McCollum

 

Darius McCollum, now 50, first commandeered a train at age 15. Photo / AP

Darius McCollum's addiction isn't for booze and pills - it's for buses and trains.
The New York transit impostor who first commandeered a train at age 15 has been arrested 30 times over the years for transit-related crimes. Most recently, he was nabbed in November behind the wheel of a Greyhound bus that officials say he had stolen from New Jersey.
Now McCollum, who is 50 and has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, is worried what will happen to him next. He says the obsession that's put him behind bars for half his adult life is out of his control. He says he needs help.
"I can't seem to get myself out of this on my own," he said at Rikers Island jail. "But what am I supposed to do? There's no AA for buses or trains."
If he were a drug user, there'd be substance abuse treatment. If he were violent, there'd be an anger-management class. Even if he had been accused of a sex crime, there would be therapy available for him.

"We applied for everything, sought help everywhere, but there's just nothing," said his lawyer, Sally Butler. "This isn't how he should be treated. He shouldn't be behind bars."
McCollum's story has become the stuff of New York folklore.
He grew up in Queens, near the 179th Street subway station, and would go there after school; conductors and other train operators got to know him. He says he soaked up information, including memorising the subway map by age 8, but he never quite understood the social rules, a hallmark of his then-undiagnosed disorder.
At 15, he managed to drive an E train from 34th Street - his favourite subway station - six stops to the World Trade Centre without any passengers noticing. It started the cycle he's been in for years.
He's posed as a transit worker, collected fares, fixed broken tracks, operated subway trains and regional rail lines and driven commuter buses. It wasn't until after his 2010 arrest for taking a bus on a cross-state joyride that he was diagnosed with autism.
He has been the subject of numerous articles, a play and a documentary. A feature film on his life is currently in production.
"I'm too functional in some ways," he said. "I can cook. I can clean. I can take care of myself. I can get a job. No one knows what to do with me."
Over the years, McCollum has worked in construction, as a mail room clerk and in fast-food, but he always lost the job because of the siren call of the train yards - he prefers trains to buses.
His latest arrest on charges of criminal impersonation and grand larceny could bring him 15 more years behind bars if convicted. Says McCollum: "I can't spend any more of my life in jail."