CAMDEN COUNTY, Ga. — A Georgia man’s family is demanding justice. 53-year-old Leonard Cure was shot and killed, Monday, by a Camden County deputy following a traffic stop.
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Nationally renowned civil rights attorney Ben Crump is now representing Cure’s family.
Cure’s family is completely devastated. They say Cure had fought for his freedom for nearly two decades after being wrongfully convicted of a crime in Florida. And then, three years after his release, he lost his life after a traffic stop. Now, Cure’s family is demanding for truth and transparency.
“His life should not have been take,” Cure’s mother, Mary Cure said.
Crump walked hand in hand with Leonard Cure’s family as they approached the Camden County Courthouse this afternoon. They chanted, “Justice for Leonard.”
“We know to get to that justice is going to be built on truth and transparency,” Crump said.
The Camden County Sheriff’s Office said Cure was pulled over for driving up to 100 miles per hour on I-95.
Despite the reason, Crump believes his death may have been from unfair treatment.
“I mean, you have young white mass murderers, who they know are confirmed mass murderers, and yet they take them alive,” Crump said. “Why is it different when it’s a black man during a traffic stop?”
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says Buck Aldridge was the deputy who conducted the traffic stop on Monday around 7:45 a.m. It escalated from his using a taser to a baton to eventually firing his gun and killing Cure.
“My heart just suddenly just dropped,” Mary Cure said. “I don’t know what happened out there. But I can tell you this. There was nothing so bad that he deserved to die.”
Having worked with many exonerated individuals, Seth Miller, the Executive Director of the Innocence Project of Florida, says he understands what went through Cure’s head, saying it’s any exonerated person’s biggest fear.
“When anyone in this situation has an interaction with law enforcement, there is a trauma that comes with the miscarriage of justice of being wrongfully convicted and wrongfully incarcerated,” Miller said.
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That day, he was returning home after visiting his mom in South Florida.
“Then he said I love you,” Mary said. “And I’ll see you soon. That’s the last I heard from him. I was uneasy every time he left because I was what if he really gets a traffic stop?”
A lot of emotions from Cure’s family – outrage, devastation, and utter grief. They want to honor Cure’s life.
“My brother was an exceptional individual,” Cure’s brother Michael Cure said.
Cure spent more than 16 years in prison before he was exonerated for a 2003 robbery he didn’t commit. After three years, he received compensation form the state of Florida, became a member of the community, bought a house, and planned on going back to college.
CCSO says Deputy Aldridge, who shot Cure, is on administrative leave.
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