Pretend Transit Worker Arrested--for Real

NEW YORK —  Darius McCollum has handled an assortment of jobs for the city’s transit agency: toll taker, bus driver, subway motorman, transit supervisor.

There’s just one problem-- McCollum doesn’t work for New York City Transit. Never has.

He is the transit agency’s great pretender, a career that began when he commandeered a subway train at age 15. But after 17 arrests stemming from his various impersonations of transit workers, McCollum has reached a crossroad.

The 35-year-old Queens man is behind bars, awaiting trial on various charges, including criminal impersonation. His parents are desperate to help their obsessive son. And his lawyer is ready to plead that McCollum is insane.

McCollum disagrees. “I am not insane,” he said in a jailhouse interview with the New York Times. “I am just your average guy who doesn’t mind helping out.”

Authorities question his definition of assistance.

The latest allegation against McCollum: He pulled a subway emergency brake during rush hour, then appeared--in regulation blue uniform--as a transit supervisor coming to the rescue.

Outside the transit system, McCollum’s record is perfect. He doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink, doesn’t gamble. He was engaged to be married, but his love for the transit system trumped his nuptials --the wedding was put off pending resolution of his case.

His attorney, Tracey Bloodsaw, says McCollum needs psychiatric aid. McCollum lives in a “fake world” where the repercussions of his acts are never even considered, according to Bloodsaw.

McCollum has gone repeatedly through the legal system, doing five years total time but always returning to the streets and subways.

His illegal transit debut came in 1981, when, at 15, he made headlines by taking the controls of a subway and piloting it downtown to the World Trade Center.

He became a mini-celebrity, with the incident dismissed as a teenage prank. It was instead a harbinger.

In 1997, McCollum was arrested after he flashed a stolen badge to sign out a NYCT truck and take it on a joy ride. Authorities said he did this four straight nights before being busted by an NYCT worker who recognized him.

Typically, he returned the truck the next morning. According to authorities, the worst damage caused by McCollum was a flat tire.