Source: AP / AP
In 2023, a Black man in Georgia who had previously spent 16 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit was shot and killed by a deputy after a traffic stop turned violent. On Tuesday, a district attorney announced the deputy will not face criminal charges for the fatal shooting. It’s the kind of case where even if you believe the decision not to prosecute was fair, you would have to admit the justice system, as a whole, is not.
As we previously reported, 53-year-old Leonard Cure was killed just three years after he was exonerated in Florida, where he was wrongfully convicted of armed robbery in 2004. On Oct. 16, 2023, a Camden County, Georgia, sheriff’s deputy pulled Cure over for speeding on Interstate 95 near the Florida line and ordered him to exit his vehicle. Body- and dash camera video showed Cure refusing to put his hands behind his back as the deputy commanded, and it showed him physically fighting the deputy before he was shot at point-blank range.
From the Associated Press:
“Use of deadly force at that point was objectively reasonable given that he was being overpowered at that time,” District Attorney Keith Higgins told The Associated Press in a phone interview Tuesday.
Higgins, Georgia’s top prosecutor for the coastal Brunswick Judicial Circuit, said he told Cure’s family of his decision during a meeting Monday and also notified the deputy, Staff Sgt. Buck Aldridge.
Attorneys for Cure’s family have insisted Aldridge used excessive force.
“This decision is a devastating failure of justice, sending the message that law enforcement officers can take a life without consequence,” family attorneys Ben Crump and Harry Daniels said in a statement.
Aldridge still works for the Camden County Sheriff’s Office, assigned to its administrative division, said Deputy Dalton Vernakes, a spokesman for Sheriff James Kevin Chaney. Aldridge had been placed on administrative leave while Cure’s shooting was investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
“The GBI did a thorough investigation and the district attorney came to the right conclusion regarding Mr. Aldridge’s use of force in this instance,” Aldridge’s attorney, Adrienne Browning, said by email. “We’re happy he’ll be able to continue to serve the citizens of Camden County as he’s done for the past 12 years.”
Cure’s family speculated that he only resisted arrest because he was still traumatized by his unjust stay in prison, which he was exonerated and freed from in 2020.
And that makes sense, doesn’t it?
Imagine if your last major encounter with law enforcement resulted in your entire natural life being upended for the better part of two decades all over a crime you were innocent of. Would it not be understandable if, during your next major altercation with police, you weren’t as willing to simply do what a cop tells you to do without a fight?
Body-cam footage, which was first released two days after the shooting, showed Aldridge ordering Cure out of the car and informing him he was driving well over 100 mph. It also showed him using his stun gun on Cure as soon as his order for Cure to put his hands behind his back was ignored, which prompted Cure to turn and flail his arms before grabbing the deputy.
More from AP:
The video shows both men grappling as Cure gets a hand on the deputy’s lower face and neck and begins forcing his head backward. The deputy strikes Cure in the side with a baton, but Cure maintains his grip.
“Yeah, bitch!” Cure says on the video. Then a single pop sounds and Aldridge can be seen holding his handgun as Cure slumps to the ground.
Truthfully, there are probably very few prosecutors who would have sought charges against Aldridge under these circumstances, but, again, that doesn’t mean the system didn’t fail Cure. Not only was Cure’s apparent attitude towards law enforcement likely influenced by his unjust time in prison, but, as his family’s attorneys have argued, Aldridge was previously fired from the Kingsland Police Department in 2017 after being disciplined for a third time for using excessive force. Personnel records show he was rehired by the Camden County Sheriff’s office, which neighbors Kingsland, just nine months after his firing.
Last year, Leonard Cure’s family filed a federal lawsuit against Aldridge and then-Sheriff Jim Proctor in U.S. District Court, accusing Aldridge of using excessive force and Proctor of ignoring Aldidge’s history of violence. The suit, which seeks $16 million in damages, is still pending.
The discussion around the racist and unjust “justice” system, is a layered discussion. It’s not just about police brutality. It’s also about racial profiling, disproportionate sentencing, and, of course, Black people having their lives stolen from them over crimes they didn’t commit. Last year, a report published by The National Registry of Exonerations revealed that in 2023, Black inmates accounted for 61% of those exonerated after being found innocent.
Again, there’s layers to this.
SEE ALSO:
Leonard Cure Update: Federal Lawsuit Names ‘Extremely Aggressive’ Georgia Cop Who Killed Unarmed Black Driver
Georgia Woman Charged With Involuntary Manslaughter After Black Boyfriend Found Shot Dead
Georgia Prosecutor Declines Criminal Charges Against Deputy Who Killed Exonerated Black Man
was originally published on
newsone.com
