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 has told the New York Post that he recently spoke to a mental health counsellor at a local veteran's centre but they never got back to him.
"I was trying to get help," Rojas told the newspaper.
"I wanted to fix my life. I wanted to get a job. Get a girlfriend."
Rojas allegedly drove his car through the crowded Times Square last Thursday before making a U-turn, steering onto a footpath and ploughing through helpless tourists for three blocks before crashing into protective barriers, police say.
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A prosecutor at his court appearance on Friday said after Rojas was detained he had said he wanted to "kill them all" and that police should have shot him to stop him.
Rojas also admitted to smoking marijuana laced with PCP sometime before the crash, prosecutors said. Officials are awaiting toxicology reports.
"I just want to apologise to all the victims' families ... I want to apologise to my mom," Rojas told the newspaper.
"The last thing I remember is driving in my car," Rojas recalled.
"Then, I woke up in the precinct ... I was terrified."
