CNN
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The family of Leonard Cure – who served more than 16 years for a robbery he did not commit and was shot and killed during a traffic stop on a Georgia highway last year – filed a $16 million lawsuit Tuesday against the sheriff's office and the deputy involved in his death.
The lawsuit alleges that Camden County Sheriff's Staff Sgt. Buck Aldridge used “excessive and deadly force” against Cure, and Aldridge is accused of manslaughter and assault.
The lawsuit also alleges that Camden County Sheriff Jim Proctor failed to hire, train, supervise and discipline deputies, resulting in a violation of Cure's constitutional rights. It claims the sheriff should have known about previous violations by Aldridge and failed to act.
Cure, who was 53 at the time of his death, was exonerated and released from prison in April 2020 after serving more than 16 years of a sentence for a 2003 robbery in Broward County, Florida, court documents show.
On October 16, he was stopped on Interstate 95 near the Georgia-Florida border. According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, he “followed the officer's commands until he learned he was under arrest.” The traffic stop was recorded by dashboard and body cameras.
When Cure did not comply with the deputy's orders, an altercation ensued in which the deputy deployed a Taser, grabbed Cure by the neck and face and then fired a shot, a video shows and the GBI said.
“These are not just … bad apples; this is a bad orchard,” Harry Daniels, a lawyer for the Cure family, said Tuesday outside U.S. District Court in Brunswick, Georgia, where the lawsuit was filed. “And today we are holding the apple and the orchard accountable … there can be no doubt about that.”
Cure's mother, Mary Cure, told reporters it was a terrible thing that “citizens have to monitor the police” and that police officers should take their jobs seriously.
“And if they want to use excessive force there, they have other body parts. You can shoot, you don't always have to kill someone,” she said.
CNN has reached out to Aldridge and the Camden County Sheriff's Office for comment and confirmation of Aldridge's employment status.
According to the lawsuit, Proctor hired Aldridge as a deputy with the Camden County Sheriff's Office in 2018 and “knew or should have known that defendant Aldridge had a propensity for violence and a history of using unlawful and excessive force while serving as a police officer” because he had been fired from the Kingsland Police Department in 2017 for violating that department's use of force policy.
When asked if he planned to file the civil suit while the shooting was still being investigated by the Brunswick District Attorney, Daniels said, “We don't have to wait for the district attorney before we move forward (…), it's not premature, it's coming at just the right time.”
The lawsuit seeks compensatory and other damages in excess of $16 million.
The Brunswick District Attorney's Office told CNN that the case is still pending.
Days after the shooting, the sheriff's office released videos from body-worn cameras and dashboard cameras documenting the moments leading up to the shooting.
The dashboard footage shows the deputy chasing Cure with his siren on after his vehicle passes his. The pursuit lasts about one minute and 20 seconds.
In the video, the deputy orders Cure to get out of his vehicle and says he pulled him over for driving too fast and recklessly. “They passed me at 100 miles an hour,” the deputy says.
“I'm not going to jail,” Cure says at one point. The deputy replies, “Yes, you are going to jail.”
The deputy repeatedly orders Cure to put his hands behind his back and warns him that if he doesn't, he will be shocked with a taser. When Cure doesn't comply, the deputy uses a taser on him.
Cure turns around, walks toward the deputy, and grabs the taser cord. The two engage in a physical struggle that lasts about 20 seconds, during which Cure grabs the deputy by the neck and face. The deputy hits Cure multiple times with a baton, and Cure can be heard saying, “Yeah, bitch,” as the struggle continues.
The deputy appears to fire his weapon and Cure falls to the ground. The shot cannot be heard on the videos.
The deputy can be heard saying into his radio, “Camden, shots fired,” as he continues to order Cure to stay down. Cure can be seen sitting upright at times, waving his arms. The deputy can then be seen pulling out a first aid kit and apparently beginning to administer aid until paramedics take over.
CNN's Ray Sanchez, Melissa Alonso, Isabel Rosales and Kevin Conlon contributed to this report.
