Being on the Spectrum does not make you dangerous

[SallyB]

I am an attorney. I represent a kind and gentle man who has Aspergers. He is the boy who loved trains. Please help me keep him safe.
www.FreeDariusNow.com.

 

[Suzanne]

I have read and so upset and disgusted and THANK YOU FOR JOINING AND POSTING THIS.

A letter of support has been written by me.

You are to be admired for not being a typical attorney, only in it for money.

Please keep us up to date and tell Darius that we are all behind him.

 

[pjcnet]

It sounds awful and it seems to have all escalated with them pumping him full of extremely addictive and detrimental drugs before he was sexually assaulted, this is obviously shocking and unacceptable for anyone, he should have received masses of compensation from the state, but instead ended up in prison. Unfortunately they still use drugs far too often as so called "quick fixes" or sometimes in my opinion even just to shut the person up and make them easier to control, when the drugs are often detrimental and damaging, especially in the long term.

I will however like to state that what we have only read the defence's side of the argument and words from his freedom campaigners, we have so far not heard any prosecution lawyers who would obviously make a totally different argument and I therefore suspect there is a lot more to this case. Without hearing both sides it is impossible to make a definite conclusion because this is like a court of law without any prosecution at the moment. I'm not saying that he deserves this treatment, he obviously didn't deserve to be sexually assaulted, it's wrong he didn't get a hearing aid in court and it's unsafe for many autistic people in prison, I'm only stating that I can't make a full conclusion without hearing both sides and even though it's natural to support a fellow aspie who appears to have been treated despicably it's important to understand this.

Edit:

The other side of the argument:

I have read a bit more on the case and he has been arrested 32 times for impersonating transit employees, stealing trains and buses, and driving their routes and 3 were felony offences. For instance most recently he stole a Greyhound bus from Port Authority for a 24-hour ride until he was arrested in Brooklyn. Now it doesn't matter whether you've got Asperger Syndrome or not, or even if you have such a special interest, he would still know that this is totally WRONG and against the law after being arrested so many times, yet he still repeatedly made a conscious decision to do it anyway! If anyone did this so many times they would obviously end up in prison and the problem is he obviously would never stop. Stealing trains and buses is obviously putting the public in serious danger, obviously he could have killed people and since he clearly won't stop no matter what after so many arrests and chances he is clearly a genuine danger to the public. This is part of the other side of the argument.

Conclusion:

After listening to both sides I'm sorry, but I have to agree that he is a danger to the public and therefore is not safe to be let out unsupervised at this time. I don't believe prison is the best place for him however and neither is a psychiatric unit, but they have to put him somewhere which makes it a very difficult situation. I also don't believe he deserves life imprisonment or life in a facility, but they do need to make sure that he won't re-offend again before setting him free as next time he could have an accident and kill someone while driving a stolen train or bus.

 

[Myway]

I have read the story and sent a letter of support. I hope it helps.

 

[Judge]

What a tragic story. I never gave any thought to the possibility of such extreme consequences given one's special interest. Very sad.

"Suggestions from his parents and autism advocates that the MTA find a way to hire McCollum in some capacity, in the manner of Frank Abagnale, are rejected by transit officials, who fear legal liability and anti-disability stigma."

Surely there must be some capacity in which they could hire this man, have him do an outstanding job and yet not be directly exposed to hazardous rail operations. Though just the concern of liability alone on behalf of the transit system is legally understandable. So sad, all that talent and no place to accommodate it.

Darius McCollum - Wikipedia

 

[pjcnet]

What a tragic story. I never gave any thought to the possibility of such extreme consequences given one's special interest. Very sad.

"Suggestions from his parents and autism advocates that the MTA find a way to hire McCollum in some capacity, in the manner of Frank Abagnale, are rejected by transit officials, who fear legal liability and anti-disability stigma."

Surely there must be some capacity in which they could hire this man, have him do an outstanding job and yet not be directly exposed to hazardous rail operations. Though just the concern of liability alone on behalf of the transit system is legally understandable. So sad, all that talent and no place to accommodate it.

Darius McCollum - Wikipedia

Yes it would be great for him to be hired to do something he is good at, but it's very unlikely he will ever be allowed to drive a train or bus and it's understandable after everything he has done, especially when it involves the safety of the public and the problem is with his record he would most likely just take one for a joy ride again anyway, there would most certainly be a very high risk so can you really blame them for being hesitant about allowing this?

 

[Judge]

Yes it would be great for him to be hired to do something he is good at, but it's very unlikely he will ever be allowed to drive a train or bus and it's understandable after everything he has done, especially when it involves the safety of the public and the problem is with his record he would most likely just take one for a joy ride again anyway, there would most certainly be a very high risk so can you really blame them for being hesitant about allowing this?

I'd think much of anything merely involving a moving conveyance would be utterly out of the question. That it would have to be something relative to the most benign exposures. In an office perhaps at best. Sadly the reality is that most rail operations involve extreme hazards coupled with a society that places a huge degree of financial and legal liability on the industry as a whole. (Doctrine of Strict Liability) Then factor in his prior criminal convictions.

They're not likely to take the chance under the circumstances, even for an office job. After all, it's their liability on the line, in an industry that can often have the deadliest of consequences. And then the liability of the legal system that would allow it. (My cousin's husband used to be a railroad engineer and used to counsel fellow employees as a union function. It's an incredibly regulated industry both internally and externally.)

No, my sentiments amount to a pipe dream. Convicted personalities like Kevin Mitnick and Frank Abagnale had different "skills" involving far less hazards in comparison. Without any complex considerations of the public perception of autism.

It's ultimately not about him as a "dangerous" person, but rather that his special interest revolves around an inherently hazardous industry with critically high liability and accountability.

 

[Suzanne]

It sounds awful and it seems to have all escalated with them pumping him full of extremely addictive and detrimental drugs before he was sexually assaulted, this is obviously shocking and unacceptable for anyone, he should have received masses of compensation from the state, but instead ended up in prison. Unfortunately they still use drugs far too often as so called "quick fixes" or sometimes in my opinion even just to shut the person up and make them easier to control, when the drugs are often detrimental and damaging, especially in the long term.

I will however like to state that what we have only read the defence's side of the argument and words from his freedom campaigners, we have so far not heard any prosecution lawyers who would obviously make a totally different argument and I therefore suspect there is a lot more to this case. Without hearing both sides it is impossible to make a definite conclusion because this is like a court of law without any prosecution at the moment. I'm not saying that he deserves this treatment, he obviously didn't deserve to be sexually assaulted, it's wrong he didn't get a hearing aid in court and it's unsafe for many autistic people in prison, I'm only stating that I can't make a full conclusion without hearing both sides and even though it's natural to support a fellow aspie who appears to have been treated despicably it's important to understand this.

Edit:

The other side of the argument:

I have read a bit more on the case and he has been arrested 32 times for impersonating transit employees, stealing trains and buses, and driving their routes and 3 were felony offences. For instance most recently he stole a Greyhound bus from Port Authority for a 24-hour ride until he was arrested in Brooklyn. Now it doesn't matter whether you've got Asperger Syndrome or not, or even if you have such a special interest, he would still know that this is totally WRONG and against the law after being arrested so many times, yet he still repeatedly made a conscious decision to do it anyway! If anyone did this so many times they would obviously end up in prison and the problem is he obviously would never stop. Stealing trains and buses is obviously putting the public in serious danger, obviously he could have killed people and since he clearly won't stop no matter what after so many arrests and chances he is clearly a genuine danger to the public. This is part of the other side of the argument.

Conclusion:

After listening to both sides I'm sorry, but I have to agree that he is a danger to the public and therefore is not safe to be let out unsupervised at this time. I don't believe prison is the best place for him however and neither is a psychiatric unit, but they have to put him somewhere which makes it a very difficult situation. I also don't believe he deserves life imprisonment or life in a facility, but they do need to make sure that he won't re-offend again before setting him free as next time he could have an accident and kill someone while driving a stolen train or bus.

Why is he a danger to the public? The guy has been WRONGLY exposed to awful things from the law and HE is the danger? Just because he has a passion for trains and felt it was the safest place for himself? And it was the other employees who let him and once more, he was experienced, so hardly a danger! It was the police who stated the wrong information regarding his driving.

What about the fact that that evil boy who stabbed him several times, was allowed to remain in class and that is the reason why Darius went to the train place for SANCITITY not for bad reasons. He was only breaking the law, because THE LAW STATED IT, not because he did anything wrong.

 

[LucyPurrs]

The previous posts regarding lack of information from the other side in this case are noted and respected however there are some facts presented which cannot be disregarded by me.

Sent the following letter:

This poor man has been denied everything he should have had since his severe and traumatic injury by another student in an unsupervised classroom. He should have been protected from his attacker, given whatever special considerations he needed regarding his education, been awarded financial compensation by the school and city where he was injured and given psychological treatment and counseling rather than being given anti psychotic medication when he was clearly not psychotic. It is incredible and unconscionable that the legal system did not provide the hearing aids he needed. It is clear to me that he has been a victim of a society which looks down upon poor people, black and "disabled" people. He is and was a victim of a society & system which had no understanding whatsoever of his autism. If he is given counseling and decent chance to pursue his special interests in a safe way that does not put others at risk but meets his needs, he would most likely be able to be a productive member of society. To further incarcerate him or put him in a mental hospital setting where he will most likely be victimized again is to compound the already egregious errors in his treatment by a flawed system.

 

[Judge]

I think much of this case reflects a flawed and unforgiving legal system which rigidly makes only two distinctions:

1) Whether or not a defendant is competent enough to stand trial or be committed.
2) Whether or not a defendant is guilty of a crime, regardless of any mitigating circumstances.

Where any consideration of rehabilitation comes only after adjudication and not before it. Just another situation IMO where punishment and incarceration are disproportionate to actual offenses.

It also doesn't help that district attorneys are elected bureaucrats who depend heavily on conviction rates to sustain remaining in office. Never mind whether one should go to trial when they just need numbers of convictions. Aggressive prosecutions shouldn't boil down to only voter appeal.

 

[pjcnet]

Why is he a danger to the public? The guy has been WRONGLY exposed to awful things from the law and HE is the danger? Just because he has a passion for trains and felt it was the safest place for himself? And it was the other employees who let him and once more, he was experienced, so hardly a danger! It was the police who stated the wrong information regarding his driving.

What about the fact that that evil boy who stabbed him several times, was allowed to remain in class and that is the reason why Darius went to the train place for SANCITITY not for bad reasons. He was only breaking the law, because THE LAW STATED IT, not because he did anything wrong.

After 32 arrests including 3 felony charges? Plus he admitted commandeering 200+ buses. There may be additional mitigating circumstances on 1 or maybe even on 2 occasions when he was arrested, but not that many times. He is a danger because he has proven that he will not listen and will take extreme measures to repeatedly steal trains and buses no matter how many times he's arrested and later set free, eventually there has to come a time where they can't let him lose yet again until they're certain that he truly won't re-offend. If he understands how to drive and pull off impersonating a genuine worker on multiple occasions he will also understand that what he was doing is wrong and against the law whether he has Asperger Syndrome or not, especially after so many previous arrests and having a special interest doesn't give him the right to do this, there's lots of things I'd love to do, but I wouldn't purposely and repeatedly break the law to do them.

Other employees later let him in because he falsely impersonated a genuine worker and there was allegedly some workers that may have tried to cover for him (which means he almost certainly avoided many arrests for his crimes), in the very early days he was allegedly wrongfully allowed to operate the trains and the workers that knew were totally out of order for allowing this, but this didn't account for the arrests and he moved onto buses too. Many people say they're experienced and good drivers that aren't legal, but they still don't have a right to drive and they're also not insured, but this is much worse because he was driving the general public who are trusting the company to keep them safe. A person who has stolen a public transport vehicle and is driving it illegally while picking up passengers is a serious risk and danger to the public no matter how you look at it and he's also not formally qualified, on the last occasion he drove a stolen Greyhound bus for 24 hours and of course all legal breaks and safety conduct is most likely totally out of the window when the vehicle is stolen. I wonder how many people would have got on that stolen bus if they'd had known who the driver was, his background and that the bus was stolen? Remember, when you get on a bus you're effectively trusting the driver with your life, especially long distance buses that travel at speed. If he was let lose and re-offended which is very likely based on so many previous offences and he caused an accident leading to death, imagine how much the authorities would be condemned for letting him loose again in the first place when they already know the risks, how could they possibly explain this to the relatives that had lost loved ones?

I do feel sorry for him in some ways and what happened to him was terrible, but it is also very difficult because they can't put him in a position where he will keep re-offending.

 

[Judge]

And factoring in voter-approved statutory "three strikes" rules (where applicable) which can complicate such cases. Where if one accrues three felony convictions they automatically lock you up for a very long time, without regards to the actual offenses. A very deliberate process to righteous, angry taxpayers.

There are just any number of legal considerations where this man is well....doomed. Where mitigating circumstances concerning autism will be effectively filtered out. And with such a high-hazard industry so exposed to strict liability, no one in this equation "is taking prisoners". Where a special interest that turns into an obsession is presumed to end with potentially catastrophic results.

 

[Crossbreed]

Am I to understand that prisons do not isolate autistics from the general population? (That seems like excessive punishment to me.)

Do they isolate those who require a CPAP machine (at least, at night)?

 

[Judge]

Am I to understand that prisons do not isolate autistics from the general population? (That seems like excessive punishment to me.)

Olmstead v. L.C. (1999)

Technically institutional isolation and segregation of individuals with disabilities was determined to be "a serious and pervasive form of discrimination" based on the American Disability Act.

As to how it is enforced may well be another matter given any number of issues pertinent to limited prison resources. One of those subjects that few bureaucrats likely want to discuss.

OLMSTEAD V. L. C.

Disabled Behind Bars - Center for American Progress

 

[Crossbreed]

Technically institutional isolation and segregation of individuals with disabilities was determined to be "a serious and pervasive form of discrimination" based on the American Disability Act.

That is a counter-productive interpretation of the the ADA. It was intended to facilitate necessary accommodations, not deny them.

 

[Judge]

That is a counter-productive interpretation of the the ADA. It was intended to facilitate necessary accommodations, not deny them.

Indeed. It's counter-productive particularly given autistic people. Unfortunately not every legal decision is necessarily a good one. Not to mention that sex offenders are almost always segregated in prison "Secure Housing Units". Go figure. Preferential treatment in the opposite direction. Based only on the odds of being attacked by other inmates.

Some forms of civil liberties can bite you in the ass. It happens.

 

[pjcnet]

Olmstead v. L.C. (1999)

Technically institutional isolation and segregation of individuals with disabilities was determined to be "a serious and pervasive form of discrimination" based on the American Disability Act.

As to how it is enforced may well be another matter given any number of issues pertinent to limited prison resources. One of those subjects that few bureaucrats likely want to discuss.

OLMSTEAD V. L. C.

Disabled Behind Bars - Center for American Progress

Regarding the 2nd link. Lots of state mental hospitals were closed and then demolished in the UK with a similar policy of integrating the patients into society, however I believe part of it was because of mass abuse that patients suffered in these so called "hospitals" which was so widespread that they were beyond saving and the best way to stop most of this shocking abuse from becoming a massive full blown scandal was to sweep it all under the carpet as quickly as possible hoping everyone would just forget. This was probably similar in the USA. They also thought it would save money, but in some ways it hasn't because these people still need homes while many are on benefits including housing benefit (rent paid for them) and then if they do end up in other institutions such as prison it costs them as much anyway.

I do believe we need another type of institution that is totally different to prison and a standard mental institution where people like Darius who can live in a secure homely environment with the right support until they're confident that he is truly safe to be released without re-offending.

There could also be similar facilities that are not so secure, or even other less secure wings just for people who need support that aren't deemed dangerous and are not there for criminal reasons. There are still a small few old style mental institutions left in the UK and I visited a person who had been admitted to one, they're still pretty awful to say the very least and after he was released he still told me shocking stories of abuse (he was only there for a few days and avoided the worst of it, but he saw others abused), how can anyone get better in an environment like that where they're also often drugged up with detrimental mind altering drugs all day long? Apparently there was also a high security wing, I can only imagine what abuse must go on there.

 

[Judge]

I do believe we need another type of institution that is totally different to prison and a standard mental institution where people like Darius can live in a secure homely environment with the right support until they're confident that he is truly safe to be released without re-offending.

Totally agree. Some authorities are beginning to process drug offenders in such a manner, why not other offenders under select circumstances?

Though this does bring up a parallel issue. What can be done in terms of rehabilitation relative to special interests versus pathological obsessions that involve legal infractions.

Had they bothered, could Darius be trained to comprehend such distinctions? I ask given that we're in the realm of traits and behaviors which in his case may or may not be "hard-wired". The effort I suppose required to determine where his special interest ended and an obsession began.

 

[OkRad]

dang! maybe to be fair, they ought to give him millions in a lawsuit because he was horrifically abused, but then he should have to pay some of it back so he can make restitution. It is only fair if they are punished for the terror he endured.

Then he could buy his own train.

 

[FreeDiver]

WOW! This is an amazing story. Why didn't this appear on the forums earlier?