CAMDEN COUNTY, Ga. — A Georgia deputy who shot and killed a man during a traffic stop on Interstate 95 will not face criminal charges, according to the district attorney’s office.
Leonard Cure died in Oct. 2023 after he was Tased and shot by a Camden County deputy who pulled him over for speeding and reckless driving. Body camera and dash camera video showed Cure initially complying with, then refusing the deputy’s commands, which escalated into a physical struggle.
On Tuesday, the district attorney for the Brunswick Judicial Circuit said that the deputy will not be formally charged.
“After reviewing the investigative case file in the above matter, I have concluded that under the totality of the circumstances, Deputy Aldridge’s use of deadly force was objectively reasonable. The pursuit of criminal charges, therefore, is not warranted,” DA Keith Higgins said.
High-profile civil rights attorney Ben Crump represents Cure’s family. He called the decision “a devastating failure of justice.”
“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,” Crump said in a statement.
“This fight is not just for Leonard’s family — it is for every family who has suffered due to unchecked police violence and a chronic lack of accountability. We will not let this grave injustice be forgotten. We will continue to demand accountability for the flaws in policing in this country,” he added.
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The shooting happened three years after Cure was exonerated for a wrongful conviction on a 2003 armed robbery charge. Channel 2′s Tom Jones previously reported that Cure moved to the metro Atlanta area after his exoneration.
His mother, Mary Cure, spoke to Jones after the shooting. She said that her son had just visited her for the weekend and video-chatted with her as he started his trip back to Atlanta.
“Then he said, ‘I love you and I’ll see you soon.’ That’s the last I heard from him,” she told Jones in 2023.
Crump has previously said he believes Cure’s years behind bars for something he didn’t do affected him psychologically.
“When that officer said, ‘I’m going to arrest you and take you to jail,’ he was triggered,” Crump said in 2023.
The family filed a federal lawsuit against the Camden County Sheriff’s Office for $16 million.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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