Love for hate-slay vic, anguish at crime
SETH PEEK wants to remember favorite cousin Timothy Caughman for the way he lived — but can’t forget the way he died.
A Queens wake and funeral for the 66-year-old Caughman (photo inset) was announced for Saturday, leaving Peek to ponder their lifelong connection and the older man’s death at the hands of a racist.
“We grew up like brothers, from single digits — you know, 7, 8 years old, 9,” Peek told the Daily News on Thursday. “We grew up close. My father and his mother were brother and sister.”
Peek recalled his cousin as a pre-med student from Brooklyn Community College who instead decided to follow his artistic side.
The aspiring doctor was instead soon working with musical acts like Gil Scott-Heron, funk band Mandrill and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group Earth, Wind & Fire.
“He was doing promotion, promoting the groups,” Peek recounted. “They were popular groups in the (’70s). Their music sold millions of records.”
Yet Peek acknowledged he couldn’t escape thoughts of his cousin’s brutal March 20 murder. Cops said Caughman’s killer rode a bus from Baltimore to New York, intent on murdering as many black men as possible.
Caughman was rooting through garbage cans on Ninth Ave. in a hunt for returnable cans and bottles when he was stabbed by sword-wielding James Jackson, authorities said. “Listen, you gotta deal with the situation,” Peek told The News about the killing. “You just have to hold on. You have to press on. (Hate crimes) never stop.”
The funeral will be held at the Mount Zion Baptist Church in Jamaica, Queens.
The accused killer surprised the victim from behind before plunging the 18-inch blade repeatedly into the unarmed and unsuspecting Caughman. The victim bled to death.
Jackson was charged with murder as a hate crime. He was also hit with a terrorism charge and faces life in prison without parole if convicted.
Caughman died without ever fulfilling his greatest dream: Working with the 25-time Grammy-winner Stevie Wonder.
“Wonder advocated the kind of things that we were living,” recalled Peek. “He stood for righteous and dignified issues, like us.
“He always wanted to work with him. He never got a chance to.” LOVE AND money continue to pour in to honor slain FDNY Emergency Medical Technician Yadira Arroyo.
The Daily News fund to assist her family grew Thursday to $110,586, including The News’ initial $10,000 donation.
All donations will go to Arroyo’s children through the FDNY Foundation.
Arroyo, 44, died March 16 when a mentally disturbed man stole her ambulance and ran her down with the vehicle.
Payments can be sent electronically to Daily News Charities, account No. 9387-575-837, routing No. 021-000-322 or through PayPal at nydn.us/ArroyoFund.