Driver tried to get help

THE man accused of killing a teenage tourist and injuring 22 other people when he drove through New York City’s Times Square says he had tried unsuccessfully to seek psychiatric help.

Speaking from the Rikers Island jail where he’s being held, Richard Rojas told the New York Post he recently spoke to a mental health counsellor at a local veterans’ centre but they never got back to him.

“I was trying to get help,” Rojas said. “I wanted to fix my life. I wanted to get a job. Get a girlfriend.”

Rojas allegedly ploughed through helpless tourists for three blocks last Thursday.