LI Crash Victim An Old, Gentle Soul Who 'Loved And Cared Hard'

SHIRLEY, NY — Akeem Brothers had a knack for going out of his way to make sure others were safe.

The motorcycle enthusiast and hobby mechanic, who was taught by his father, loved to tinker with bikes and cars. And he would help his family and friends by fixing their vehicles any chance he could — not for money, but out of pure love.

"It's just something that he really loved doing," his cousin, Ciera Toney, said Tuesday on the eve of what would have been his 30th birthday.

The loss of Brothers, killed Jan. 18 in a car crash, left his large family of loved ones reeling, including his circle of friends.

They remembered that he was also good with fixing hearts.

Anyone who was down could always count on Brothers for support, and he would do anything he could to lift them up.

"If you were going through something emotionally, he was the first one to go over there to make sure he was talking to you to get [you] on the right track," Toney said, noting that Brothers was good at helping people who were in "ruts and bad situations better their lives," and he was good with favors, whatever the reason.

"He was the first person who called, and without hesitation, he showed up," Toney said, adding that Brothers was always trying to "impact everyone's lives in a positive way."

Brothers, who attended Patchogue-Medford High School, flew down to Florida when Toney graduated college to ride home with her on the way back up so she would not be alone on the road up to New York.

"He loved his family more than anything in the world," recalled his girlfriend, Alexa Torres, whom he had just moved in with in Shirley.

Toney, who was raised in the same household, said Brothers was "a very kind-hearted person with such an old, gentle soul."

"He was like a gentle giant," she said "He was like the most affectionate person I've ever met. And, he was just very caring and would give you the shirt off his back, because that's just how his mother raised him."

"He would sacrifice anything and everything to make sure his family was OK," she added.

His spirit so captured everyone he met that they immediately took a liking to him. As a tow truck driver, he once met a woman he helped and he impressed her so much that she said she would pray for him.

He kept in touch with her for years, because that is the way he was.

"This was a random person that he picked up," Toney said, adding, that she was an example of a person he just left some kind of imprint or impact on their lives, and "brightened their day."

"He always went above and beyond for people, like, no favor was ever too big for him," she added.

Torres said the two, who only dated each other for six months, grew close and planned everything together. Their birthdays are close, and they had planned to go on a getaway together that "never got to happen."

Instead, Brothers will be remembered at a special gathering at his gravesite at Woodland Cemetery in Bellport on Wednesday.

"That's what he would want; that is what he would do," Torres said.

Toney has since set up a GoFundMe, Akeem Brothers Gone Too Soon, to help his family with funeral expenses. So far, it has raised just over its $10,000 goal.

She wanted to make sure Brothers' family was looked after because it was his whole life's mission to take care of his family, especially his mom.

"This was another thing as part of his legacy to do to make sure that even while he's not here on earth anymore, that we're all going to still be there for her and the family," she said.

To Toney, it's another way of honoring his wishes.

But it's a starting point.

Toney said the family might make a call for safer conditions along William Floyd Parkway, which has had some tragedies in recent months.

Toney said his family wants Brothers to be remembered as more than a name in a news story, but as a person.

"It's kind of just like his name was all over the news," she said, adding, "then that was it."

"So, I think that would be it would be really nice to just have a little bit of who he really was. He wasn't just a news article," she added.

Brothers was a person who had family and he leaves behind a legacy.

"There's a lot of loss because he's impacted all of our lives," Toney said.

His death is something his family has to live with daily now that he is gone.

"This is what he leaves behind," she said. "These are all the people that are suffering because of the loss."

GoFundMe is a Patch Media partner.