Former Georgia deputy indicted on charges he used excessive force and
covered it up in reports
[August 08, 2025]
By CHARLOTTE KRAMON
SAVANNAH (AP) — A federal grand jury indicted a former southeast Georgia
sheriff's sergeant Thursday on civil rights charges, accusing him of
using excessive force multiple times and writing misleading reports to
justify his behavior.
The 13-count indictment charges former Camden County Sheriff's Office
Staff Sgt. Buck William Aldridge, 42, with falsifying records and
violating the rights of four people he arrested with excessive force.
Aldridge resigned Thursday after the Camden County Sheriff’s Office
asked him to step down, sheriff’s spokesman Dalton Vurnakes said.
Aldridge fatally shot 53-year old Leonard Cure, a Black man, in October
2023, The Associated Press previously reported. The indictment does not
mention Cure.
District Attorney Keith Higgins in February declined to charge Aldridge
for fatally shooting Cure, saying body-camera video and other evidence
indicated it was reasonable for Aldridge to use deadly force.
The Cure family filed a federal lawsuit in 2024 against Aldridge and
former Camden County Sheriff Jim Proctor in U.S. District Court, seeking
$16 million.
“I think it helps our case tremendously considering it shows he had this
propensity for excessive use of force and a propensity to lie about it
on his reports,” Harry Daniels, the family’s lawyer, said of the
indictment.
False reports
The indictment accuses Aldridge of unjustifiably tasing and kicking
someone in January 2021, injuring them. In August 2021, it says, he
unjustifiably tased a second victim in the in the back and compressed
their neck using the pistol grip of a taser while they were handcuffed,
also injuring them, and unjustifiably tased a victim in the back of the
head in August 2023.
The indictment also says Aldridge unjustifiably tased and hurt a victim
during a June 2022 arrest and punched them in the face, which was
previously reported by the AP.
Aldridge left out details of his violent conduct in reports, the
indictment says, including that he kicked a victim and punched another.
The indictment says Aldridge tried to “cover up” that he struck a victim
in the back of the head with a taser. He also falsely wrote that a
victim ignored verbal commands and falsely reported that during the
August 2021 occurrence, the victim ran away and he tried to use other
force to control them before deploying a taser.
Aldridge reported that on Aug. 31, 2021, he was dispatched to a pickup
truck that had been in a wreck on Interstate 95, and witnesses had
reported seeing it weaving in the road, according to records previously
obtained by the AP. His incident report said the driver had
methamphetamine.
Aldridge wrote that at one point that the driver appeared to put
something in his mouth and began to run.
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This still image from a deputy's body camera video provided by the
Camden County Sheriff's Office shows Staff Sgt. Buck Aldridge
following a chase and arrest in Camden County, Ga., June 24, 2022.
(Camden County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)
“He started pulling away from me saying he did not have anything. I
cycled my Taser using the drive stun function into Mr. (name
redacted)’s back. Mr. (redacted) dropped to the ground and became
compliant. He later stated he ate two 5 mg hydrocodone, which he had
hidden in his sock. Mr. (redacted) began defecating on himself.”
A pattern
Aldridge was hired by the Camden County Sheriff's office nine months
after he was fired from another law enforcement job in 2017 after he
threw a woman to the ground and handcuffed her during a traffic
stop.
At the Kinsgland Police Department, Aldridge, a former U.S. Marine,
was disciplined for using unnecessary force two other times before
he was fired.
Aldridge disclosed the firing to the Camden County Sheriff's
Department, which hired him anyway. Advocates called it a part of a
pattern where former Camden County Sheriff Jim Proctor let
unnecessary violence slide without consequences. Several Camden
County deputies have been indicted on felony charges and fired for
violence.
“Finally, justice for some of these people that have been deprived
of their civil rights at the hands of Buck Aldridge,” Camden County
NAACP president Timothy Bessent said of the indictment.
Bessent said he is disappointed that Cure wasn’t mentioned in the
indictment. But he said he was glad to see federal prosecutors
willing to hold Aldridge accountable for what he said was a pattern
of dangerous behavior that should have stopped the Camden County
Sheriff’s Office from hiring him in the first place.
“The Camden County Sheriff’s Office is committed to transparency and
accountability at every level,” current Camden County Sheriff Kevin
Chaney said in a statement. “Our duty is to serve the citizens of
Camden County with integrity and professionalism.”
The FBI in Brunswick is investigating the case against Aldridge.
Adrienne Browning, an attorney for Aldridge when Georgia authorities
investigated Cure’s death, did not immediately return a phone
message or email Thursday. Court records did not list an attorney
for Aldridge in the federal case.
—-
Associated Press writer Russ Bynum contributed to this report from
Savannah.
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