#1 Subway Fan Darius McCollum Arrested for 26th Time

The police arrested Darius McCollumn for impersonating a federal employee at Penn Station on Sunday. McCollum's 25 previous arrests were for impersonating a NYC Transit employee--most famously for taking the E train for a 6-stop ride when he was 15 years old. More recently, the 43-year-old has tried to steal a train at the Long Island Rail Road yard in 2004 and tried to enter a restricted area at Columbus Circle wearing a transit worker-like uniform in June. It's believed the 43-year-old suffers from Asperger's; his "weary-sounding" mother told the Daily News that she wasn't surprised he was arrested again. McCollum now lives in North Carolina with her, but he traveled to NYC in spite of her warnings, "He's a lover of New York and can't get over it."

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By Jen Chung in News on October 7, 2008 3:00 PM

Comments [rss]

momma04

folks, guys you gotta stop making making this Darius issue into a fantasy. Yes he is sick, yes he needs help, but do you really want to ride in a stolen bus or train with a man who is completely crazy. Would you find solace in knowing that your children rode with him to school one morning or afternoo. I dont think so. He"s a theif. He's a liar and hes an impersonator. You wouldnt want him servicing you and trust me you wouldnt want him in your house. If your job interested him he'd take your credentials and using them to run ammock as well. hes sick> and futhermore he isn"t the only impersonater out there . The only solution for him is to be isolated. Hes been treated for his illness already: obviously its not working . His mother, well, there isnt much she can do. He needs help thats true. He needs help to get to an isolated place where hes confined and monitored. This man will never stop. The question is how we can stop him. Glorifying his ill deeds arent the way to go. I'm pretty sure positive attention concerning driving things he likes to steal feeds his motivation. Do me a favor please stop toying with the idea that he should be driving the very things that he steals.... sad

chubbyemu

Lock him up? He hasn't done anything 'wrong' and clearly has no intent to cause anyone any more harm than you or me. I have no sympathy for the MTA. They have bigger fish to fry than this guy but can only seem to handle harassing and arresting mentally disables trainspotters. Seriously, give him a job. Perhaps if the MTA started hiring people with his degree of dedication and knowledge -all be it strange- to the trains, maybe some improvements would be made.

abcohen

HIRE HIM!!!! let him work on the TRACKS... you always need good people to help out on down there...

Wza

Kojak took the words right out of my mouth.

Hire him!

Snoopy

I think he should retire on a full disability pension. He's put in more hours already than the average transit worker.

meowster

hire him already! he is eons better that what they have now.

buzzbuzzard

When I read the comments suggesting that he be hired my impulse is to fire back with "Don't you get it -- he's insane!" and then I remember who's running the country.

Of course, that hasn't worked out so well either.

Toby von Meistersinger

He would probably run the MTA better than the clowns running it now.

pete

Hire the guy, he is overqualified.

GigiDmnd

Seriously - hiring him would save a lot of heart ache, money and paper work.

***

jewssip.com

Kojak

Give the man a job already. He would probably do a better job than 99% of the employees working for the MTA anyway. You wouldn't have to train him since he already knows how to drive the damn trains.

Tgirl

impersonating a NYC Transit employee-

what was he doing, napping in the token booth?

Qraymond

You know, he is a major headache for the MTA but I have a real soft spot in my heart for him.

JacqueMehoff

this guy loves trains, maybe someone should forward his plight to Neil Young.

he even wants to drive them new LIRR cars, how did he know the MTA got some new commuter cars?

littlepinkknife

Why would you lock him up for life? He has a mental disability and should be more highly supervised by his mother. If he's obsessed with trains there should be some way he can learn about trains in North Carolina. Sheesh!