Georgia cops release dashcam footage of the moment officer shoots dead man after roadside brawl after tasering him during traffic stop: Had previously spent 16 years in jail on wrongful robbery conviction
- Leonard Allan Cure, 53, was killed on Monday after attacking the sheriff’s deputy
- He grabbed the cop by the neck and wrestled him to the ground
- His family say he was ‘murdered’ over a routine traffic stop
- Cure spent 16 years in prison on a wrongful robbery conviction
Georgia police have released dashcam video of the moment a sheriff’s deputy shot and killed 53-year-old Leonard Allan Cure, a man who spent 16 years in prison on a wrongful conviction, after Cure attacked him during a traffic stop.
The incident occurred on Monday in Camden County, north of Jacksonville. Cure was speeding at more than 100mph in his pick-up truck. He was pulled over by an as-yet unnamed sheriff’s deputy, who ordered him out of his vehicle and to put his hands on the back of his truck.
‘I ain’t doing s**t,’ Cure replied, before eventually marching to the rear of the vehicle.
He then raised one hand in the air, prompting the cop to taser him, then he swung at the sheriff’s deputy.
The pair wrestled for several seconds until Cure overpowered the cop, bending him over the back of the truck while keeping a firm grip on his chin while taunting him ‘yeah b***h, yeah b***h.’
No gunshots can be heard in the video but this is the moment the sheriff’s deputy appears to shoot him, once in the side, causing Cure to fall to the ground.
At one point, the officer drew his baton on began repeatedly striking Cure who held him in a vice like grip. The two wrestled to the ground with the officer on top
The two had their arms wrapped around each other, wrestling, before Cure overpowered the sheriff’s deputy
Cure is shown lying on the ground after being shot by the cop who is at this point calling for backup
Cure had spent the time since he was freed giving inspirational talks to high schoolers and had a dream of going to college
He immediately called for back-up, yelling: ‘Shots fired. Shots fired. Suspect down.’
Once other officers arrived at the scene, he willed Cure to live, telling him: ‘You ain’t going no damn where.’
Cure was later pronounced dead, triggering a wave of unrest in the community spurred by claims by his family that he was murdered by the sheriff’s deputy.
They said he was ‘triggered’ by the cop’s aggressive nature, after spending 16 years in prison on a wrongful robbery conviction.
Cure was convicted of the 2003 armed robbery of a drug store in Florida´s Dania Beach and was sentenced to life in prison due to previous convictions for robbery and other crimes.
In 2020, the Broward State Attorney´s Office new Conviction Review Unit asked a judge to release Cure from prison and cited ‘troubling’ revelations that Cure had solid alibis that were previously disregarded and that no physical evidence or solid witnesses to put him at the scene.
An independent review panel of five local lawyers concurred with the findings.
Body and dashcam footage shows how the incident began with police pursuing Cure along the 1-95 near the Georgia state line for alleged speeding. The officer order Cure out of the car and to the back of his truck where the fight began
But Cure starts to swing his arms and try to punch the Georgia cop
Cure was later pronounced dead. His family say he was murdered
Cure is pictured in April this year. He had his conviction overturned after a review corroberated his alibi for the robbery he was convicted of
Cure was released that April after his sentence was modified. In December 2020, a judge vacated his conviction and sentence.
Crump said the deputy acted too aggressively from the start and possibly ‘triggered’ 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.
Cure had been on his way back from visiting his sick mother in Florida when he was pulled over.
Since his release, he had been giving inspirational talks to high school students worked a security job and was considering college after buying a home.
The Florida Innocence Project said in a statement: ‘Lenny was a great person who had already lost 16 years of his life to wrongful incarceration. And now this.
‘He and his family deserved better. Lenny’s life mattered. We are completely devastated.’
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