The Georgia police officer who shot and killed a recently exonerated man during a traffic stop in Georgia was once fired for using excessive force.
Camden County Sheriff’s Deputy Buck Aldridge killed unarmed Leonard Cure, 53, on Monday after pulling him over on I-95.
Cure had been released after serving 16 years in prison for a wrongful armed robbery conviction and was unarmed at the time of the speeding stop. Bodycam footage showed him flailing after Aldridge attacked him with a Taser. The footage then shows the officer shooting Cure as he lies on the ground.
Now it has emerged that the police officer in question was fired from his previous job because he violated the department’s use of force policy during a traffic stop.
Aldridge was fired from Kingsland police in 2017 over an incident in which he reportedly picked up a woman and threw her to the ground during a traffic stop.
Buck Aldridge fatally shot unarmed man Leonard Cure during a traffic stop near the Georgia state line on Monday after Cure refused to submit to arrest and the two got into an argument
Cure was released from prison in 2020 after serving 16 years in prison for a wrongful armed robbery conviction
A report from an internal investigation into the 2017 incident includes comments from another officer involved in the stop, who reportedly said he thought Aldridge’s response was “a little bit excessive.”
A second officer said: “I think a police officer is way too aggressive to begin with. ‘He had no business picking her up and throwing her to the ground.’
Personnel files obtained by News4JAX also show that Aldridge received multiple warnings about his behavior in the years before his firing.
In 2013, a performance review indicated room for improvement in his judgment and decision-making. A comment from the transcript advised him to be “calm, cool, collected.”
The following year he was given a warning for using unnecessary force during a traffic stop.
During his five years at Kingsland, Aldridge completed 618 hours of training, including topics such as de-escalation techniques, use of deadly force and traffic stops.
Experts speculated that despite his past, he might have been given a new police role due to personnel issues.
Aldridge was fired from a previous job with Kingsland police in 2017 for violating the use of force policy
Monday’s traffic stop quickly turned violent after Aldridge used his Taser on Cure when he refused to take control of his vehicle
Cure was imprisoned in 2003 for the armed robbery of a drugstore in Dania Beach, Florida. He was given a life sentence because of previous convictions for robbery and other crimes.
But in 2020, his conviction was overturned after a judge ruled there was no substantial evidence and his alibi had been overlooked.
On Monday, Cure was on his way home from visiting his sick mother in Florida when he was stopped by Aldridge.
Bodycam footage showed a heated exchange between the men after Aldridge accused Cure of driving at 100 miles per hour.
The incident escalated when Cure refused to take control of his vehicle, prompting Aldridge to deploy his Taser.
The argument then became physical and the two got into an argument until Aldridge managed to subdue Cure, who continued to resist arrest.
Aldridge shot Cure as he lay on the ground, and footage showed him then trying to revive him until first responders arrived.
His death has reignited the discussion about police brutality in the United States
Ben Crump, an attorney for Cure’s family, said Aldridge was too aggressive from the start and that this “triggered” Cure, who his family said suffered emotional distress from his years in prison.
“We don’t understand why there weren’t further attempts to de-escalate the situation,” Crump said.
Aldridge, who was comforted after the shooting, had previously been warned several times about his behavior, particularly during traffic stops
Ben Crump, an attorney for Cure’s family, has suggested that Aldridge was overly aggressive from the start of the interaction and did little to de-escalate the situation
His mother, Mary Cure, also said she often feared her son would be caught in a traffic stop.
She told NBC News: “I was nervous every time he left because I thought, ‘Is he going to get a traffic stop?’ Will he be a victim of this?’”
“He has never been released since his release. Lived in constant fear. Will this be the day they lock him up, beat him or kill him? I lived with it. This is torture.’
She added, “He said, ‘I love you and I’ll see you soon,'” which was the last I heard from him. “My heart is disconnected and my soul aches.”
The Camden County District Attorney’s Office told News4JAX it will not comment on violence until its investigation is complete.