“Was he an angel, was he perfect? Absolutely not, but whatever he did, did not warrant him being dead,” Leonard Cure’s mother said.
A man who had served 16 years for a crime he did not commit was fatally shot by a police officer during a routine traffic stop only three years after his release.
Dashboard footage from police showed a cruiser in pursuit of a white pickup truck that allegedly sped past the officer at 100 mph down a Georgia highway.
When the pickup was pulled over, video shows a sheriff's deputy yell several times for the driver to get out of the car and put his hands up.
The driver complies after the deputy threatens to use a stun gun on him. With his hands on the truck, he questions why he was pulled over. After the deputy tells him he was going 100 mph, the driver ignores commands to put his hands behind his back and the footage shows the deputy tase the driver, which sends the driver flailing at the deputy.
A violent scuffle ensues, ending after the deputy fatally shot the driver, who was later identified as 53-year-old Leonard Cure, who was released in 2020 after spending 16 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
Following his exoneration, Cure spoke to young people about his experiences due to his wrongful imprisonment.
Cure’s mother held a picture of her late son at a news conference, saying “I don't know what happened out there but I can tell you this, it was nothing so bad he deserved to die."
“Was he an angel, was he perfect? Absolutely not, but whatever he did, did not warrant him being dead,” Cure’s mother said.
His family is being represented by attorney Ben Crump, who said that Cure may have been triggered by the thought of going back to prison after being wrongfully locked up for 16 years, which had left him with severe PTSD.
“He was trying to make the best of the situation, his second chance at life,” Cure’s mother said.
Cure’s family met with the district attorney, and says they were told that a decision about whether the deputy will face charges will be made by the end of the week.
