‘you need to arrest me’

TIMOTHY (HARD ROCK) CAUGHMAN spent his days rummaging through recyclables — and looking at the stars. Hollywood stars, that is. Police say Caughman, who was black, was killed by James Jackson, 28, a white man who police say came to the city from Baltimore to kill African-American men.

Caughman made a living recycling bottles, but his passion was meeting and getting autographs from stars who passed him on the street.

“Can and bottle recycler, autograph collector in New York City,” Caughman, 66, proudly said on his Twitter page filled with pictures of himself and performers like Beyoncé, Oprah Winfrey, Susan Lucci, Russell Simmons and Maria Menounos (left with Caughman). “I would love to visit California. I’m a good businessman.”

Caughman was sifting through garbage bins for bottles and cans on W. 39th St. and Ninth Ave. in Midtown when Jackson fatally stabbed him, police said.

“The man don’t do anything to anyone, just collecting his cans to make his little money,” Caughman’s neighbor Jean-Paul Chatham, 41, said. “Sometimes I’m left speechless.”

Caughman, who lived in transitional housing, had been arrested 11 times for assault and marijuana possession in the past, but hadn’t been arrested since 2002. Police initially looked into Caughman’s criminal history to see if it was linked to the crime. Police determined the motive was hate.