Darius McCollum

Darius McCollum (born 1965) is a New York City resident with a lengthy arrest record for crimes related to the transit system operated by the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). He has been fascinated with trains since his childhood, and has been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome.

McCollum has been interested in trains from an early age, frequently riding the New York Subway for days at a time. His fixation with trains has led McCollum to frequently impersonate MTA employees or a related entity, for which he has been jailed numerous times. McCollum has been rejected for employment by MTA on numerous occasions, although he is reported to know more about the trains, schedules, procedures and rail operations than any current employee.

A prison psychiatrist who did an evaluation diagnosed him with Asperger syndrome. McCollum is said to have memorized the New York City Subway map by age 8.

It can be noted that Darius McCollum may have been inspired by the antics of Willie Henry Collins, known to the NYPD and Port Authority Officials as "Bus Willie", who was first arrested in 1973 for "borrowing" Greyhound and Trailways buses.

According to McCollum's mother, his interest with the New York City Subway system started in his youth, when subway motormen permitted him to drive trains. McCollum was first arrested in 1980, at age 15, when he drove an in-service New York City Subway E train for six stops. While he was in jail at Rikers Island, he wrote to the New York City Department of Correction and asked if he could drive one of their buses. By the mid-1990s, McCollum "had become a minor cult figure", particularly after the MTA posted thousands of wanted posters in trains and stations so that riders could report sightings. Occasionally, McCollum would appear as transit employees named "Morning" or "Manning", who riders invariably experienced as friendly and helpful.

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