Police release video of fatal shooting of Black man in Georgia
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[October 19, 2023]
By Rich McKay and Daniel Trotta
ATLANTA (Reuters) - Officials on Wednesday released video of the traffic
stop and physical confrontation that ended with a sheriff deputy in
Georgia shooting a Black man to death at point-blank range.
Leonard Allan Cure, 53, died on Monday after a Camden County sheriff's
deputy shot him; the officer has not been officially identified. Cure
was exonerated in 2020 after being wrongfully convicted of armed robbery
and serving 16 years in prison.
The case is the latest in a series of police shootings of unarmed Black
men that have raised questions about race relations and police use of
force in America.
His family has retained civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, who has won
multimillion-dollar settlements for the relatives of others killed by
police. Crump said at a news conference on Wednesday that the officer
had acted too aggressively.
The Camden County Sheriff's Office said in a posting online the video
was released because of rumors and misinformation, but did not
elaborate.
A representative for the sheriff's office did not immediately respond to
Reuters request for comment on Wednesday.
The Camden County Sheriff's office released three videos, one from the
deputy's body camera and two from his vehicle's camera, that show the
deputy pulled Cure over for speeding and immediately shouted at him to
get out of the car. The deputy later told Cure on the video that Cure
was driving 100 miles per hour (160 kph) on Interstate 95 in southern
Georgia.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Oct/19/images/ads/current/peasley_sda_PROMGRAD_2023.png)
In the altercation which lasted just under 3 minutes, Cure argues with
the deputy but complies with his orders to get out of the truck and put
his hands on the tailgate, the video shows.
Cure then does not comply with orders to put his hands behind his back,
and the deputy shoots him with a Taser stun gun, the video shows. At
that point Cure and the deputy grapple with each other, with both men
grabbing each other around the face and neck, the video shows.
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![](../images/101923PIX/news_y21.jpg)
Leonard Allan Cure, 53, who, according to the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation (GBI), was killed by a Georgia sheriff's deputy during
a traffic stop, poses at the Florida Senate Chamber in Tallahassee,
Florida, U.S., April 26, 2023, in this picture obtained by Reuters
on October 17, 2023. Innocence Project of Florida/Handout via
REUTERS
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/Sep/05/images/ads/current/stclara_lda_SPONSOR_090519.png)
Cure is heard saying "Yeah, bitch," twice as the deputy says "sit
down" multiple times, the video shows.
The deputy hits Cure with a baton and then fires one shot at point
blank range with his service weapon and a pop is heard, according to
the video.
After telling Cure to "stay down" after he briefly struggled to sit
up, the deputy then handcuffs Cure, prone on the asphalt, and begins
to render aid, the video shows. Other uniformed personnel arrive and
attempt to revive Cure with chest compressions, but his body is
eventually loaded into an ambulance, the video shows.
Cure's family watched the video Wednesday at a Georgia Bureau of
Investigation office with their attorney just before it was released
by Camden County, in southern Georgia.
At a news conference organized by Crump's law firm and posted
online, Cure's brother Wallace Cure said there was "absolutely no
reason why my brother was murdered for a traffic stop." They said
Cure was driving to his home in the Atlanta area from Florida after
visiting his mother.
Crump blamed the deputy for acting too aggressively from the start
and possibly "triggering" Cure, who the family said suffers from
emotional stress from his years in prison.
"We don't understand why there weren't more attempts to de-escalate
the situation," Crump said.
(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta and Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad,
California; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Kat Stafford and Gerry Doyle)
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