🚔 GEORGIA DEPUTY FATALLY SHOOTS MAN DURING TRAFFIC STOP AFTER PHYSICAL STRUGGLE

The Final Minutes of Leonard Cure’s Life on Interstate 95

Camden County, Georgia — October 16, 2023

The traffic stop began on Interstate 95 in southeast Georgia just after sunrise.

Cars were moving along the highway near the Georgia-Florida line when a Camden County sheriff’s deputy pulled over a pickup truck. Behind the wheel was 53-year-old Leonard Allan Cure, a man who had spent much of his adult life fighting to reclaim a freedom that had once been taken from him.

The reason for the stop was speeding.

According to investigators, Cure had been driving at roughly 100 mph in a 70-mph zone. What followed would last only a few minutes, but the encounter would end with Cure dead on the shoulder of the interstate.

The incident was captured by police cameras.

Those recordings would later allow investigators—and the public—to watch the encounter unfold almost moment by moment.

But the footage also raised difficult questions about how the confrontation escalated, the force used during the arrest, and whether the shooting was legally justified.

A Traffic Stop on Interstate 95

It was approximately 7:30 a.m. on October 16, 2023, when a Camden County sheriff's deputy initiated the traffic stop on northbound I-95, just south of Mile Marker 9.

The driver was Leonard Cure.

According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Cure initially followed the deputy's commands.

He got out of the pickup truck.

He stood beside the vehicle.

For a brief moment, the encounter appeared to be a conventional roadside traffic stop.

But the situation changed when Cure learned that he was not simply receiving a speeding citation.

He was being arrested.

The deputy ordered him to place his hands behind his back.

Cure questioned the arrest.

The exchange became increasingly tense.

According to video reviewed by investigators and news organizations, Cure asked whether there was a warrant and questioned why he was being taken to jail over the traffic violation.

The deputy continued ordering him to put his hands behind his back.

Cure did not comply.

Then the encounter moved into a completely different phase.

“You Are Going to Jail”

The deputy told Cure that he was under arrest for speeding and reckless driving.

Cure continued questioning the decision.

The body-camera and dash-camera recordings capture the increasingly tense exchange.

The deputy warned Cure that he would be shocked with a Taser if he did not comply.

Cure continued asking questions.

Then the deputy deployed the Taser.

For a moment, Cure appeared incapacitated.

But the encounter was not over.

According to the GBI's preliminary account, Cure then assaulted the deputy.

The deputy deployed the Taser a second time.

When that did not end the confrontation, the deputy used an ASP baton.

The two men became involved in a physical struggle on the shoulder of the interstate.

And within seconds, the encounter reached its final stage.

The Struggle

The video shows Cure and the deputy grappling beside the pickup truck.

Cure moved toward the deputy and the two became locked in a physical confrontation.

According to reporting based on the released footage, Cure grabbed the deputy around the face and neck area during the struggle. The deputy struck Cure with the baton before drawing his firearm.

The entire confrontation happened extremely quickly.

There was no long standoff.

There was no extended pursuit.

It was a roadside struggle between two men only feet apart.

Then came a single gunshot.

Cure fell to the ground.

The deputy immediately radioed for assistance.

“Shots fired, suspect down,” was reported over the radio, according to accounts of the footage.

The traffic stop was over.

But the emergency was only beginning.

First Responders Rush to the Highway

Within minutes, additional officers and emergency medical personnel arrived.

Cure was lying on the roadside.

First responders began attempting to save his life.

According to reports, medical personnel performed CPR and other emergency measures before Cure was transported for treatment.

But he did not survive.

The 53-year-old was pronounced dead after being shot by the deputy. The GBI confirmed that no deputies were injured in the incident.

For investigators, the scene immediately became evidence.

The patrol vehicle.

The pickup truck.

The roadway.

The weapons.

The body-camera footage.

The dash-camera recordings.

And the physical evidence from the struggle would all become part of an investigation into exactly what happened during those final moments.

The Man Inside the Traffic Stop

The story of Leonard Cure did not begin on Interstate 95.

Years before the traffic stop, Cure had experienced another devastating encounter with the criminal justice system.

He had been convicted in Florida of an armed robbery he did not commit and spent approximately 16 years in prison.

In 2020, authorities reviewed his case and concluded that he had been wrongfully convicted. Cure was released and exonerated.

After his release, he attempted to rebuild his life.

He moved to the Atlanta area.

He worked.

He spoke to students about his experience.

And he was looking toward a future that had seemed impossible while he was incarcerated.

In 2023, shortly before his death, Cure had also received compensation related to his wrongful imprisonment.

Then, only about three years after walking out of prison as a free man, he was killed during a traffic stop.

That history became an unavoidable part of the story.

Body-Camera Video Changes the Conversation

Following the shooting, the Camden County Sheriff's Office released video showing the encounter.

The footage included one body-camera recording and two dash-camera recordings, providing several perspectives on the stop.

The recordings allowed viewers to see the sequence rather than relying solely on written accounts.

Cure initially complied.

He was told he was under arrest.

He questioned the arrest.

The deputy threatened to use the Taser.

The Taser was deployed.

Cure resisted.

A second Taser deployment followed.

The baton was used.

The two men struggled.

And the deputy fired.

The video became central to the subsequent investigation and public debate.

Cure's family and their attorneys argued that the deputy's handling of the encounter involved excessive force and that there should have been greater efforts to de-escalate the situation.

The deputy's defenders, meanwhile, pointed to the physical struggle and Cure's contact with the deputy as the circumstances that led to the shooting.

Those competing interpretations became a major part of the aftermath.

The Independent Investigation

Because the shooting involved a law-enforcement officer, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was asked to conduct an independent investigation.

The GBI announced on October 16, 2023, that the Camden County Sheriff's Office had requested its involvement.

The agency said its investigators would examine the shooting and eventually send the case file to the Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office for review.

The deputy involved was identified in later reporting as Staff Sgt. Buck Aldridge.

The investigation examined the circumstances leading to the shooting, including the video evidence and the physical confrontation.

For Cure's family, however, the investigation represented more than a question of police procedure.

It was a question about why a man who had already lost 16 years of his life to a wrongful conviction had died during another encounter with law enforcement.

The Family Seeks Answers

Cure's family strongly disputed the idea that the shooting should simply be viewed as the unavoidable result of a violent confrontation.

Their attorneys argued that the deputy escalated the encounter and used excessive force.

Civil-rights attorney Ben Crump, representing the family, said after the release of the footage that aspects of the video were troubling from both perspectives and criticized what he described as a lack of de-escalation.

The family later filed a federal lawsuit against Aldridge and former Camden County Sheriff Jim Proctor, seeking $16 million in damages.

The lawsuit also raised questions about Aldridge's previous employment history.

According to reporting, he had previously been fired by the neighboring Kingsland Police Department after disciplinary incidents involving alleged excessive force.

Those allegations became relevant to the family's civil case, although they were separate from the specific circumstances of Cure's death.