It’s not entirely clear why police stopped Leonard Allan Cure on Interstate 95 on Monday. The only thing that is certain is that he died a short time later. According to “preliminary findings” from the responsible investigative agency, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), Cure was stopped around 7:30 a.m. The 53-year-old got out of his car when asked by the police and cooperated until he found out that he was under arrest. He then stopped complying with police requests and, according to the GBI, a deputy used his Taser. But Cure attacked the police officer, whereupon he used the Taser a second time and finally his baton. Because Cure continued to resist, the police officer finally pulled out his gun and shot the man. Paramedics tried unsuccessfully to save Cure’s life.
That’s how the life of a man who wasn’t very lucky ended on Monday morning. Because Cure had only been free since December 2020 – after innocently serving sixteen years in prison. In 2004, Cure was convicted of an armed robbery at a drugstore chain in Florida in which the perpetrator stole approximately $1,700 in November 2003. The two employees described the perpetrator differently. According to the aid organization “Innocence Project of Florida,” the confrontation a week after the crime took place under questionable circumstances. Despite this – or perhaps because of this – Cure was brought to trial and sentenced to life in prison despite an alibi. Only with the help of the organization was Cure able to get a new trial and prove his innocence. But after less than three years of freedom, his life ended.
The “Innocence Project of Florida” reacts to Cure’s death with corresponding shock. “We are very saddened by the news that our exonerated client Leonard Cure was shot and killed by a Camden County, Georgia sheriff this morning during a traffic stop while driving back from Florida to his residence in Georgia,” an Instagram said -Organization mail. “Lenny was a great person who had already lost 16 years of his life to wrongful incarceration. And now this. He and his family deserve better. Lenny’s life mattered. We are completely devastated.”
Seth Miller of the Innocence Project of Florida knows the fears of innocent convicts like Cure. “Even when they are free, they always have to deal with the fear that they will be convicted and imprisoned again for something they didn’t do,” Miller told The Associated Press.
Via Facebook, the Camden County Sheriff’s Office only says that one of the police officers was involved in an incident in which shots were fired. The police then go on the attack: “The media and rumors in the community have provided the public with false information.” The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is currently investigating the incident. Once the investigation is complete, all reports on the incident would be released.
Police have not said why Cure was stopped in the first place.
Sources:AP, Sky News, Spiegel, Camden County Sheriff’s Office on Facebook, Innocence Project of Forida, gbi.georgia.gov.
