Photo: Innocence Project
A Georgia sheriff's deputy won't face charges in the fatal shooting of an exonerated Black man during a traffic stop.
The shooting of 53-year-old Leonard Cure unfolded on October 16, 2023, just three years after being freed from prison. Cure was exonerated in 2020 by the Broward State Attorney's Office in Fort Lauderdale after serving 16 years for a robbery he didn't commit.
On the day of his killing, Camden County deputy Buck Aldridge pulled Cure over for allegedly speeding on Interstate 95 near the Florida line. Aldridge ordered Cure to get out of his vehicle before tasing the man when he allegedly declined to put his hands behind his back.
District Attorney Keith Higgins said his office wouldn't pursue charges against the deputy last week, per CBS News.
"Use of deadly force at that point was objectively reasonable given that he was being overpowered at that time," Higgins said in a statement.
Ben Crump and Harry Daniels, attorneys for Cure's family, denounced the DA's decision in a statement.
"This decision is a devastating failure of justice, sending the message that law enforcement officers can take a life without consequence," they said. "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."
Seth Miller of the Innocence Project, which worked on Cure's wrongful conviction case, said the victim had just bought his first home in Georgia.
"That's where he was going," Miller said.
Aldridge was placed on administrative leave amid an investigation into Cure's shooting. A spokesperson for the Camden County Sheriff's Office confirmed that Aldridge is still employed.
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