Police: New York City Subway Thief Darius McCollum Strikes Again, Steals Bus

(Sept. 1) -- After being arrested for the 27th time on charges of taking a mass transit vehicle on a joyride, Darius McCollum wondered if maybe New York City had finally learned its lesson.

"I'll bet they won't leave the keys in the ignition," he told a police officer Tuesday, according to The New York Daily News. "I'll bet they'll be more careful now."

Police nabbed McCollum, 45, after he allegedly stole a New York Trailways bus and then drove the empty vehicle in rush-hour traffic through Gotham. McCollum said he planned on returning the bus, as usual. "I figured I'd bring it back," he said.

Forty-five-year-old Darius McCollum is walked out of the 103rd Precinct on charges of Grand Larceny Auto for stealing a tour bus and driving it from NJ to Queens NY.

Bryan Pace, New York Daily News

Darius McCollum, 45, is led out of the 103rd Precinct on Tuesday. He is accused of stealing a tour bus.

The New Yorker's love of trains, and all things transit-related in general, has gotten him into trouble with the law for most of his life. His criminal career began in 1981 at the age of 15, when McCollum somehow got behind the controls of a subway train and drove it to the World Trade Center station.

He didn't stop there. Police say the transit-happy New York native went on to impersonate transit workers and commandeer subways and commuter trains in the area dozens of times, accumulating one arrest after another. McCollum spent two years in prison after he tried to steal a 60-ton train at the Long Island Rail Road yard in 2004. No one has been hurt in his escapades.

His mother, Elizabeth McCollum, said her son has Asperger's syndrome and needs help, not jail time. She said friends of her son's, some of whom are transit workers, may be egging him on. "You don't just walk in and take a bus or a train," McCollum, 84, told AOL News today in a phone interview. "Somebody has to give you the OK to do these things."

She said her son simply loves trains.

"He's in hog heaven when he's on a train or a bus," Elizabeth McCollum told The Associated Press. "What he needs is a break. He needs help. He is an exceptional kid, but he's never been given a chance to use his gifts. It's sad."

She told the AP that she moved to North Carolina two decades ago with her son but said he returned to New York because he missed the trains.

To the authorities, though, McCollum is a menace.

"We applaud the NYPD's recent arrest and hope he is punished to the fullest extent of the law and kept far away from anything with wheels," MTA spokesman Paul Fleuranges told the AP.

McCollum was charged with grand larceny and possession of stolen property. If convicted, he could spend 15 years in prison.

Elizabeth McCollum said hadn't spoken to her son about the latest incident yet. "It makes no difference what he does, he's my son and I love him," she told AOL News. "But he's 45 now. So he has to grow up."