ATLANTA—The family of Leonard Cure, a 53-year-old Black man who was killed three years after serving a wrongful conviction in prison, received news on Feb. 24 that the Georgia sheriff’s deputy who fatally shot their loved one will not face criminal charges.
The family and attorneys accused the deputy, Staff Sgt. Buck Aldridge with the Camden County Sheriff’s Office, of excessive force.
Mr. Cure was traveling back to his home in the Atlanta metropolitan area after visiting his mother in Florida when the deputy pulled him over near the Florida line for speeding and reckless driving on Oct. 16, 2023.
The deputy aggressively ordered Mr. Cure to get out of his pickup truck and threatened to tase him, according to body and dash camera footage. Mr. Cure complied with the deputy’s order to put his hands on the back of his truck.
After telling him he was going to jail and shocking him with a stun gun, Mr. Cure flailed his arms and grabbed the deputy. He had his hands at the deputy’s throat when he was shot.
In a phone interview, Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Keith Higgins told The Associated Press that use of deadly force “was objectively reasonable.”
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump and co-counsel Harry Daniels issued a statement after the news.
“This decision is a devastating failure of justice, sending the message that law enforcement officers can take a life without consequence. Leonard Cure was a man who had already fought so hard to reclaim his life after a wrongful conviction, only to have it stolen from him again. His family will not stop fighting for accountability, and neither will we,” they stated.
Mr. Cure was convicted of armed robbery in 2004 and sentenced to life in prison. After maintaining innocence for years, he was released in April 2020 and exonerated eight months later.
Family and attorneys shared in the past that Mr. Cure’s wrongful conviction caused severe psychological trauma. He had just received compensation and educational benefits two months before he was killed.
According to officials quoted by The Associated Press, Deputy Aldridge still works for the Camden County Sheriff’s Office. A neighboring police department fired the deputy after being disciplined for a third time for using excessive force, according to AP. The Camden County Sheriff’s Office hired him nine months later.
Mr. Cure’s family filed a federal lawsuit one year ago, in February 2024, against the deputy and the former sheriff seeking $16 million. The case is still pending in U.S. District Court, according to The Associated Press.
“This fight is not just for Leonard’s family—it is for every family who has suffered due to unchecked police violence and a chronic lack of accountability,” attorneys Crump and Daniels stated. “We will not let this grave injustice be forgotten. We will continue to demand accountability for the flaws in policing in this country.”
