Two months after the state of Florida formally apologized to Leonard Cure for the 16 years he lost following a wrongful conviction for armed robbery, authorities say he was fatally shot Monday by a sheriff’s deputy during a traffic stop just across the state line in Georgia.

“He and his family deserved better,” the Innocence Project of Florida said in a statement. “Lenny’s life mattered.”

Cure’s quest to rebuild his life after being wrongfully convicted in 2003 ended tragically on the shoulder of Interstate 95 in South Georgia on Monday morning.

On Wednesday, the Camden County, Georgia, sheriff’s office released body-worn and dash camera videos of the moments leading up to the shooting.

In the dash cam video, the deputy begins pursuing Cure with his sirens on after Cure’s vehicle passes his. The pursuit lasts about one minute and 20 seconds.

  • @PrinceHabib72@lemmy.sdf.org
    3•1 year ago

    He also fled and resisted arrest. Both arrestable offenses. If he would have promptly pulled over, it would almost certainly have been a citation at worst. He fled at 100 MPH for over a minute before finally pulling over. Also, how is an officer being choked out on the side of the highway defending himself with a taser, then a baton (while actively being strangled and bent nearly backwards), and only THEN a gun, “zero cause”?

      • @PrinceHabib72@lemmy.sdf.org
        -1•1 year ago

        Any fleeing is still fleeing. I don’t understand why you think this was an unjustified shooting. He was putting every other driver at risk, refused lawful orders, and threatened the officer’s life while saying “Yeah bitch, yeah bitch.” Not exactly a paragon of humanity here.

        • @girlfreddy@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
          -2•1 year ago

          No one in their right mind believes that anyone who is being pulled over for speeding deserves to die because the cop is a murdering sob.

          If you believe that, fine. We’re done here.

          • @PrinceHabib72@lemmy.sdf.org
            -2•1 year ago

            But you didn’t establish that he’s a murdering son of a bitch. Did you actually watch the video you posted? All of it? Cure wasn’t “pulled over for speeding”, that’s insanely reductive to the facts. He was going over 100 and refused to pull over for over a minute for no clear reason. In addition, when he refused to obey lawful orders and allow himself to be placed under arrest, he further escalated the situation. When he attempted to inflict severe bodily harm on the officer while taunting him, I’d say the shooting is extremely justified, especially when you consider the fact that the officer only fired after deploying two separate non-lethal methods to subdue Cure. He didn’t deserve to die for speeding. I’d say he somewhat deserved it when he attempted severe bodily harm on the officer, though.