The Georgia officer who shot and killed a Black man who had served more than 16 years in prison for a wrongful robbery conviction was previously fired from a police department for using excessive force during a traffic stop, according to a report. .
Camden County Sheriff’s Deputy Buck Aldridge was identified by News4JAX as the officer who fatally shot 53-year-old Leonard Cure during a violent fight after the officer stopped him for speeding on Monday.
Disturbing footage showed him tasering and shooting Cure, who had been out of prison for three and a half years after his exoneration.
Aldridge was previously fired by the Kingsland Police Department in August 2017 for violating its use of force policy during a traffic stop by throwing a woman to the ground, according to the report.
“To begin with, I see a police officer being too aggressive,” a colleague who was at the scene said of Aldridge, according to the outlet, which cited an internal investigation.
“He didn’t have to pick her up and throw her on the ground.”
Georgia deputy Buck Aldridge, who shot and killed Leonard Cure, who was exonerated after spending 16 years in prison, was fired in 2017 for excessive force, according to a report. Camden County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Buck Aldridge
Aldridge, who joined the Kingsland force in 2012 as a peace officer, had reportedly faced other disciplinary issues before being fired.
A performance review in 2013 said he needed to improve his judgment and decision-making, with one comment saying, “Keep calm, calm, collected,” News4JAX reported.
In 2014, he also received a warning for unnecessary force during a traffic stop, according to the outlet.
Over five years with the department, he reportedly completed 618 hours of training that included de-escalation techniques, use of deadly force, traffic stops and more.
The Camden County Sheriff’s Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment early Friday about Aldridge’s hiring after his previous firing.
Police dash camera video shows Leonard Cure fighting with the officer. Camden County Sheriff’s Office The deputy initially used his Taser on Cure, but the driver continued to fight with the deputy. Camden County Sheriff’s Office deputy then shot Cure at point-blank range. Camden County Sheriff’s Office
Meanwhile, Cure’s mother said she wants justice for her late son.
“I hate Georgia!” Mary Cure said in Florida, WSB-TV reported. “I’m sorry, but this is my baby. And I want justice for him.
“I don’t know what happened out there, but I can tell you this: There was nothing bad enough that I deserved to die,” he added before watching police video of the shooting and what led up to it.
Cure said her son had just left Florida after visiting her over the weekend and that he video chatted with her while driving to her home in the Atlanta area.
“Then he said, ‘I love you and I’ll see you soon.’ That’s the last I heard from him,” she said.
Cure told the Messenger that his son had suffered psychological damage during his years behind bars.
“I will say that if you spent that much time in prison, it will be difficult. “I don’t care who you are,” he told the outlet.
Leonard Cure, 53, was shot and killed by a Georgia police officer during a traffic stop on Monday.
Spending so many years in jail “for something you didn’t do, and all the things that happened to him while he was there, coming back into society and trying to pick it up and just move on, it’s going to be very difficult to do,” Cure said.
“I had a total disconnect,” he told the outlet.
Cure said her son did not want to seek therapy for his psychological problems because he felt there was a stigma attached to it and he did not want to be perceived as “weak.”
In the video of the fatal arrest, Leonard was told he had been pulled over for driving 100 mph.
The officer is seen ordering Cure out of his vehicle.
“I didn’t do s**t,” Cure responds as the officer pulls out his Taser and points it at him.
Cure poses in the Florida Senate chamber in Tallahassee.via REUTERS
Cure asks the agent what agency he works for and if there is a warrant for his arrest. She refuses to comply and says he won’t go to jail.
The officer eventually shoots Cure in the back, but he moves toward the officer and the two fight.
Cure grabs the officer’s face and pushes his head back while cursing, while the officer hits him with his baton before shooting him, the video shows.
Aldridge, who grabbed the medical equipment, is later seen crying while surrounded by other officers. Meanwhile, paramedics provided first aid to the fatally injured driver.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who now represents the family, said he also believes Cure’s years in prison for something he didn’t do took a toll on him psychologically.
“When that officer said, ‘I’m going to arrest you and take you to jail,’ he became enraged,” Crump said, WSB-TV reported.
Mary Cure holds a framed photograph of her murdered son, Leonard Cure.AP
News4JAX showed the footage to criminologist Alex del Carmen, who said Aldridge’s history of use of force puts the fatal encounter into context.
“The sergeant probably thinks that the suspect is not obeying his verbal commands and that is why he has to use force. “I’m not sure that’s entirely true,” del Carmen told the outlet.
He questioned why the officer used his Taser when Cure had his back to him and raised his hand.
“From what you can see in the video, it does not appear to me that this is the type of call or the nature of the event that would require an officer to taser the suspect,” del Carmen said.
Leonard in an undated family photo. Facebook/Innocence Project of Florida
“If the officer, in fact, has a history of using force in the past and has been disciplined in the past, to the point of being fired, then the police department has a very serious problem on its hands right now. ”He added.
Cure, who was serving a life sentence after being convicted in 2003 of an armed robbery at a Walgreens in Broward County, Florida, was exonerated and released in 2020 thanks to the work of the Florida Innocence Project.
A Broward State Attorney’s Office Conviction Review Unit found that Cure had a solid alibi (in the form of a time-stamped ATM receipt miles away) at the time of the robbery.
Cure had recently purchased a home in Palmetto, Georgia, with part of the $817,000 he received from the state of Florida this summer for his wrongful conviction and imprisonment.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn