CAMDEN COUNTY, Ga. — A Georgia sheriff’s office has released the dash camera and body camera footage from a traffic stop that ended with a deputy shooting and killing a driver.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said a Camden County deputy pulled over 53-year-old Leonard Cure as he drove along Interstate 95 near the Georgia-Florida line on Monday.
The GBI said Cure complied with the deputy’s commands until he was told he was under arrest. The deputy said he used a stun gun on Cure when he stopped complying and that Cure assaulted him.
The deputy Tased Cure a second time and used a baton before pulling out the gun and shooting him.
The unidentified deputy has been placed on administrative leave as the case is investigated.
WARNING: The videos below include the footage from body and dash cameras as released by the Camden County Sheriff’s Office. It may be considered graphic for some viewers.
“The video will show the traffic offenses of speeding over 100 mph and Reckless Driving which occurred prior to the body camera video of the Deputy’s encounter with Leonard Cure. Camden County Sheriff Jim Proctor, along with District Attorney Keith Higgins of the Brunswick Judicial Circuit, and GBI Agents investigating the case decided this morning to make the videos available for public review in an effort to be completely transparent as to what happened, and how the incident escalated to the point of extreme Use of Force,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
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Channel 2′s Tom Jones learned that Cure has ties to metro Atlanta. He moved to the area after he was exonerated for a wrongful conviction on a 2003 armed robbery charge in Florida.
Weeks before he was killed, the Georgia Innocence Project arranged for Cure to speak to students at Jonesboro High School in Clayton County.
Christian Stegall was with Cure when he spoke. He says you could hear a pin drop when Cure told students about spending all those years behind bars for something he didn’t do.
“It really was therapeutic for him to tell his story,” Stegall told Channel 2′s Tom Jones.
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Stegall says Cure was upbeat about his future and happy to spread the word about the impact of wrongful convictions.
“Every time we saw Leonard he always had a positive outlook,” he told Channel 2 Action News.
Stegall says when Cure spoke at Jonesboro High School, the school initially wanted him to speak in its mock courtroom.
“And Leonard was like, ‘I can’t. I don’t want to be in a courtroom anymore,’” Stegall pointed out.
He wonders if that was on Cure’s mind when a Camden County deputy pulled him over Monday morning on I-95.
Cure was awarded $817,000 for his wrongful incarceration. Staff with the Georgia Innocence Project said Cure was excited about buying a new home. They’re disturbed that won’t happen now.
“It’s really sad and unfortunate that we’re at this point and time,” Stegall said.
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