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ATLANTA — The mother of a metro Atlanta man killed during a traffic stop in South Georgia said her son didn’t deserve to die on the side of the road.
Mary Cure is calling for justice for her son. She spoke during a news conference Wednesday about the death of her son, 53-year-old Leonard Cure.
“I hate Georgia,” she said with emotion.
Mary Cure, from Florida, said the state has been harsh to her family.
“Sorry, but this is my baby. And I want justice for him,” Mary Cure said.
Her son Leonard was shot and killed by a Camden County deputy Monday morning.
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The sheriff’s office released bodycam and dashcam video where the deputy pulled over Leonard Cure for speeding and reckless driving on I-95.
He initially complied with the deputy’s commands but then refused to put his hands behind his back to be arrested. That’s when the deputy threatened to Tase him.
“Why am I getting Tased?” Leonard Cure asked in the video.
“Because you are under arrest for speeding and reckless driving,” the deputy said.
“I’m not driving. Nobody was hurt, how was I speeding?” Leonard Cure asked.
“You passed me doing 100 miles per hour,” the deputy said.
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The deputy Tased Leonard Cure. The video shows him pulling out the prongs and attacking the deputy, using profanity in the process. The deputy then shot and killed Leonard Cure.
His mother hadn’t seen the video when she made this statement: “I don’t know what happened out there but I can tell you this there was nothing so bad that he deserved to die.”
Leonard Cure had spent 16 years in Florida prisons for a crime he didn’t commit. He was exonerated and released in 2020. He moved to metro Atlanta to start his new life.
Attorney Ben Crump believes Leonard Cure’s years behind bars for something he didn’t do affected him psychologically.
“When that officer said, ‘I’m going to arrest you and take you to jail,’ he was triggered,” Crump said.
Mary Cure said her son had just left Florida after visiting her for the weekend. She said he video-chatted with her as he made his way home.
“Then he said, ‘I love you and I’ll see you soon.’ That’s the last I heard from him,” she said.
The state of Florida awarded Leonard Cure more than $800,000 for his wrongful conviction.
His family said the deputy should have been able to de-escalate the situation, but a law enforcement expert said Leonard Cure was in the process of seriously injuring the deputy and he had no choice but to use force to defend himself.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is now looking into the case.
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