Leonard Cure’s mother held a photo of her son as she somberly addressed the crowd at a news conference Wednesday, two days after a Georgia deputy fatally shot Cure during a traffic stop.
“My heart is disconnected and my soul aches,” Mary Cure said during the event.
Leonard Cure died Monday during an altercation with a Camden County sheriff’s deputy on Interstate 95 near the Georgia-Florida border. The death came three years after he served 16 years in prison for an armed robbery conviction he was exonerated of.
The 53-year-old had been visiting his mother in Port St. Lucie, Florida, and was returning home in metro Atlanta. Mary Cure recalled the last conversation she had with her son early Monday morning, before they parted ways.
“He said, ‘I love you and I’ll see you soon,’ that’s the last I heard from him,” she said.
“I was uneasy every time he left, because I was like, ‘Will he get a traffic stop? Is he going to be a victim of that?’” the mother said. “From the time that he was released, he was never set free,” she continued. “Lived in constant fear … is this going to be the day that they’re gonna lock him up, beat him up, or kill him? I lived with that. That is torture.”
Camden County Sheriff’s Office released dashboard and body camera video showing the deputy pulling Cure over and ordering him to put his hands on the back of his pick-up truck and then behind his back. Cure appeared to comply until he learned that the deputy intended to arrest him for speeding and reckless driving, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the sheriff’s office.
The deputy fired a stun gun at Cure and a fight ensued, with Cure grabbing the deputy by the neck and pushing his head backward, the video shows. The deputy shot the stun gun twice at Cure and hit him with a baton before shooting him with a gun at point-blank range. Cure’s family said the man’s time behind bars likely played a role in his deadly…
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