Camden County sheriff’s Staff Sgt. Buck Aldridge and Leonard Allen Cure are seen here on Oct. 19, 2023, during a tense traffic stop that escalated to Aldridge fatally shooting Cure. (Screenshot: Camden County Sheriff’s Office)
The family of an exonerated robbery defendant is suing the deputy who killed him during a traffic stop last year. In a new federal lawsuit, they say that the defendant, Camden County sheriff’s Staff Sgt. Buck Aldridge, unlawfully used his stun gun on Leonard Allen Cure, 53, before the fatal shooting.
“We will never stop saying Leonard Cure’s name,” said family attorney Ben Crump in a statement obtained by Law&Crime. “Leonard should be remembered as a man who aspired to do what he could to improve the very system that robbed him of his life in so many ways. This lawsuit is a powerful first step towards justice for Leonard’s memory. Hopefully this lawsuit can prevent others from suffering the same fate as Leonard, dying on the side of an interstate as the result of excessive police use of force.”
They are seeking at least $17 million in the complaint against Aldridge, Camden County in Georgia, and the local sheriff, Jim Proctor. The lawsuit argues that Proctor either ignored or otherwise should have known about Aldridge’s prior bad acts on-duty as an officer for Kingsland Police Department. They also say that Proctor failed to fire other physically abusive law enforcement officers in his employ, at least until a grand jury brought charges against them or until state authorities got involved.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Leonard Allen Cure, 53, was on his way back home after visiting his mother in South Florida when Aldridge pulled him over for speeding. Cure had previously been exonerated in a 2003 armed robbery in Florida, but the state had already made him spend 16 years in prison. Having gotten $817,000 from Florida in compensation, he had moved to the Atlanta area and was working security, with plans to attend college for music production.
The complaint said that the deputy had no reason to believe Cure to be a danger when he stopped him for speeding on Oct. 19, 2023.
“From the time Defendant Aldridge first observed the pickup truck and until the pickup truck begin to pull over onto the right shoulder, approximately one minute lapsed,” the complaint stated. “At no time during that approximate one minute did Defendant Aldridge observed Mr. Cure operate his vehicle in such a manner that threaten the safety of other motorists on the road.”
Footage shows Aldridge walking up and grabbing Cure’s arm soon after the man stepped out of the vehicle. Cure pulled away.
“After a brief dialogue between Defendant Aldridge and Mr. Cure, Defendant Aldridge ordered Mr. Cure to place his hands behind his back and attempted to grab Mr. Cure’s left arm. Mr. Cure pulled away from Defendant Aldridge and sought clarification from Defendant Aldridge of why he was threatening to tase him,” they wrote.
As seen on video, the encounter escalates. After repeatedly ignoring commands to put his hands behind his back, Cure pointed up, and Aldridge then tased him. Cure then turned around and attacked the officer.
“Yeah, b—-,” Cure said during the struggle with Aldridge. “Yeah, b—-.”
The gunfire appears to happen between minutes 2:15 and 2:25 in this body camera footage, which Law&Crime warns is disturbing in nature.
Cure has his hand pushing against Aldridge’s face and is continuing to struggle with the officer when the shot is fired.
You can also see part 1 and part 2 of the sheriff’s office dashcam. A third-person view of the shooting happens at about 4:00 of part 1 of the dashcam.
“Too late,” Cure said, having been shot, blood visible on his tank top. “Too late.”
In regard to Aldridge’s prior actions, he was fired on Aug. 30, 2017, from the Kingsland Police Department for violating the use of force policy, according to the lawsuit. He had been suspended for three days on May 4, 2017, put on probation for 12 months, ordered to take a management-directed “Employee Assistance Program,” and ordered to take remedial use of force training for violating the Kingsland Police Department’s use of force policy. On Feb. 3, 2014, he received a warning for violating the department’s use of force policy.
The 2017 firing stemmed from Aldridge throwing a woman during a traffic stop, according to an internal investigation reported by Jacksonville independent TV station WJXT.
Another officer who was involved in that incident described Aldridge’s behavior as “a bit much.”
“I see a police officer being way too aggressive to start with,” he reportedly wrote. “He had no business picking her up and throwing her on the ground.”
The sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to a Law&Crime request for comment.
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