Body and dash camera footage released late Wednesday afternoon appears to show a coastal Georgia deputy opening fire during a traffic stop on the interstate after being choked by a man who spent more than 16 years in prison for a wrongful robbery conviction.
Leonard Cure, 53, was shot and killed by Camden County Staff Sgt. Buck Aldridge after he was pulled over Monday on I-95 in a rural area just north of the Florida border. Cure, who had been visiting his mother in South Florida, was exonerated of his crime in 2020 and had been living in metro Atlanta.
In the footage posted to YouTube by the Camden sheriff’s office, Aldridge pulled over the pickup truck driven by Cure that allegedly went past him going more than 100 mph. After getting out of his patrol vehicle, the deputy, who was fired from his previous department in 2017 over a use-of-force incident, yelled at Cure four times to “step out” or “get out” of his truck.
When Cure exited, he said, “I ain’t doing (expletive),” and identified himself as “Yahweh.”
Full dashcam video of the incident (Warning: Viewer discretion is advised)
Bodycam video of the incident (Warning: Viewer discretion is advised)
The deputy tells Cure to place his hands on the back of the truck and then yells for him to put his hands behind his back. He informs Cure he is under arrest for speeding and reckless driving. He also threatens to use a Taser several times, the video shows.
When Cure at one point extends his left hand into the air, he is Tased by the deputy, according to the footage. Cure then grabs Aldridge, who tries to place him in a headlock. During the fight, which takes place just a few feet from a travel lane, Cure appears to place his hands over the mouth of the deputy, who grabs a baton to fend him off.
Credit: Camden County Sheriff's Office
Credit: Camden County Sheriff's Office
“Yeah, (expletive), yeah, (expletive),” Cure says while choking Aldridge, the video shows.
The deputy then fires a handgun and Cure falls to the ground.
“Shots fired, suspect down,” Aldridge says. “Stay down!”
Cure was treated by paramedics and later died, according to the GBI. Aldridge was placed on administration leave immediately after the incident, which remains under investigation, Camden Sheriff’s Capt. Larry Bruce confirmed.
Credit: Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council
Credit: Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council
Aldridge joined the Camden sheriff’s office in May 2018 after a five-year stint with the Kingsland Police Department, according to Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council records. He was fired from that agency in August 2017 after he violated policies on the use of necessary and appropriate force as well as on/off duty conduct, records show.
According to POST, Aldridge was helping other officers with a traffic stop and was told to stay with the driver while they waited for a K-9 unit to get there. Without any verbal warning, POST stated he tried to handcuff and detain the woman so she couldn’t get back to her vehicle. Aldridge told investigators she “stiffed her arm and tried to pull it back,” records show. He took the driver to the ground and other law enforcement members helped to place her in handcuffs.
After the officers involved in the incident looked at footage during the investigation, one said he saw a “police officer being way too aggressive to start with” and that he “had no business picking her up and throwing her on the ground,” according to POST. Another officer called the action “a bit much” and felt the driver was complying, an investigator stated.
The records did not state when and where the incident occurred. In 2014, he was also given a written warning following a use-of-force policy violation.
Aldridge was hired by the sheriff’s office about a month after POST decided not to take action and concluded its investigation into the Kingsland use-of-force incident, records show. He was promoted to sergeant about three years later.
Just three weeks before Monday’s fatal shooting, Cure was educating high school students in Clayton County about his wrongful conviction of armed robbery at a Broward County Walgreens store in 2003. He received a life sentence due to his prior felony convictions, which dated to the late 1980s.
He was exonerated in 2020 based on a finding of “actual innocence” following a new investigation initiated by the Innocence Project of Florida and the Broward County State Attorney’s Office’s Conviction Review Unit. The review found that an ATM receipt proved Cure was miles away from the crime scene at the time of the robbery. Investigators also determined that a photo array showed to a victim had multiple photos of Cure and “was therefore an unreliable, suggestive identification procedure,” prosecutors said at the time.
In June, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis approved a claims bill that awarded Cure $817,000 in compensation from the state for his wrongful conviction and imprisonment. He had held a steady job since his prison stint and recently purchased a home in Palmetto.
Credit: Innocence Project of Florida
Credit: Innocence Project of Florida
“The Leonard we knew was a smart, funny and kind person,” State Attorney Harold F. Pryor said in a statement. “We send our sincerest condolences to his family and all who knew him.”
It was the 80th officer-involved shooting the GBI was asked to investigate this year and the third in Camden County since May 2021.
It was the second notable incident involving the Camden sheriff’s office over the past 14 months. In November 2022, three deputies were fired and charged after video surfaced that appeared to show them repeatedly punching a detainee inside a small cell at the county jail.
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