Deputy who shot absolved man had prior firing for excessive force

When Staff Sgt. Buck Aldridge fatally shot Leonard Cure during a roadside struggle after pulling him over for speeding. It wasn’t the first time a traffic stop involving a Camden County sheriff’s deputy turned violent.

Last year, Aldridge dragged a driver from a car that crashed after fleeing a sheriff’s deputy on Interstate 95. Body and dashboard camera footage obtained by The Associated Press shows the driver on his back as Aldridge punches him. Records show the deputy has not faced any disciplinary action.

Personnel records show that Aldridge was fired in August 2017 by a police department in the same Georgia county after he threw a woman to the ground and handcuffed her during a traffic stop. The Camden County Sheriff’s Office hired him nine months later.

Aldridge stopped Cure for speeding on Oct. 16 and ultimately shocked the 53-year-old black man with a Taser after he refused to put his hands behind him to be handcuffed. Body and dashboard camera footage shows Cure fighting back and had a hand on the deputy’s throat when Aldridge shot him point-blank.

Family members say Cure likely resisted because of the psychological trauma he suffered while imprisoned in Florida for 16 years for an armed robbery he did not commit. Officials acquitted and released him in 2020.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating Cure’s death and will present its findings to prosecutors. Aldridge’s attorney said the video shows he shot in self-defense. Either way, critics wonder if he should have worn a badge given his history of aggression.

“This man should never have been on the force,” said Timothy Bessent Sr., president of the Camden County NAACP chapter.

The AP obtained Aldridge’s personnel records as well as reports and videos of the June 2022 chase and arrest using Georgia’s open records law.

A former U.S. Marine, Aldridge, 41, worked for the Kingsland Police Department in the southeastern corner of Georgia for nearly five years. His file shows that Aldridge was disciplined in February 2014 and May 2017 for the use of unnecessary force. The second time he was suspended for three days without pay.

The department fired Aldridge just three months later for his third violation. Police records show that Aldridge was assisting a traffic stop when he attempted to handcuff a woman — not to arrest her, but to keep her out of her car. A deputy told investigators that Aldridge handcuffed the woman after “picking her up and throwing her to the ground.” She was ticketed for allowing a person without a driver’s license to drive her car.

Aldridge was hired by the sheriff’s office in May 2018. He announced his resignation on his job application.

Aldridge’s firing wouldn’t automatically disqualify him from working for another agency, although some would see it as a huge liability, retired police Maj. Neill Franklin said.

“If someone is fired from another police department for using excessive force, he or she will not be hired by the Maryland State Police or the Baltimore Police Department,” said Franklin, who led training programs for both agencies. “It’s just not worth the risk. .”

Bessent and other advocates say it’s an example of Camden County Sheriff Jim Proctor tolerating unnecessary violence.

Proctor, who has been sheriff for 10 years, declined to comment. Spokesman Capt. Larry Bruce cited the investigation into Cure’s death and ongoing civil lawsuits involving other deputies.

Since last year, six Camden County officers have been charged with misdemeanor charges and fired for violence against inmates and a motorist.

In September 2022, prison security cameras recorded guards bursting into the cell of Jarrett Hobbs, who was struck in the head and neck and thrown against a wall. Hobbs was accused of assaulting prison guards until his attorney obtained the video. His charges were dropped and three deputies were charged.

Two more prison guards were charged and fired over incidents in March and July. Security video showed someone pushing an inmate to the ground and punching him before another guard intervened. The other deputy pushed a handcuffed inmate’s head against a door, knocking him unconscious.

“You let these deputies run wild and do whatever they want to do,” said Harry Daniels, a civil rights attorney who won a legal settlement for Hobbs. “The consequences come from the GBI and the Public Prosecution Service. It should not come from an external agency.”

He points to Christine Newman, named Deputy of the Month two months after a dashboard camera recorded her punching a handcuffed driver in the face and slamming the woman’s head into a patrol SUV. The driver had refused to exit her vehicle after being stopped for a rollover on January 16, 2022.

Newman was fired a year later after being charged with, among other things, aggravated assault and violating her oath of office. She has pleaded not guilty. Newman’s attorney, Robert Persse, called her a “loyal deputy” who he would like to defend in court.

The number of officers charged “indicates a culture that may not encourage the use of force, but certainly tolerates inappropriate use of force,” said Police Chief Louis Dekmar, retired in LaGrange, Georgia.

“When people are held accountable and there are clear lines, you generally don’t see that in law enforcement agencies,” said Dekmar, former president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

A spike in claims involving the sheriff’s office led to Camden County government being dropped by the insurance company in July, said Mike Spiers, the county’s director of risk management. The county got new policies, he said, but the liability deductible increased from $25,000 per claim to $250,000.

Aldridge was placed on administrative leave while the GBI investigates Cure’s death.

“Buck Aldridge is a fine officer and the video speaks for itself,” said Adrienne Browning, Aldridge’s attorney. “It is clear his life was in danger and he was defending himself.”

Released video of the fatal confrontation along I-95 shows Aldridge telling Cure he is being charged with reckless driving for driving more than 100 miles per hour. Cure argues, but obeys orders to get out and put his hands on his truck. However, he ignores orders to keep his hands behind him.

That’s when Aldridge shoots his Taser into Cure’s back. Cure fights back and video shows them wrestling along the highway. Cure holds Aldridge’s face and neck after he is beaten with a baton.

“Yes, bitch!” Healing says. Then he collapses to the ground after Aldridge fires a single shot.

Dekmar, Franklin and a third expert told AP they believed the shooting was legal because Aldridge appeared to be in danger when he fired. But they also criticized the way Aldridge started the encounter by yelling at Cure and said they made no effort to de-escalate.

“He escalated the situation with Mr. Cure,” said former Memphis police officer Thaddeus Johnson, a professor of criminal justice at Georgia State University and a senior fellow of the Council on Criminal Justice. “He has no control over his emotions.”

Johnson said Aldridge showed a similar lack of control during a June 2022 arrest after chasing two speeding cars.

After a car crashes, body and dashboard camera video shows Aldridge shouting expletives as he approaches with his gun drawn. The driver is lying on his back when Aldridge begins to drag him out of the car by his head and then punches him.

The driver refuses to be handcuffed, but agrees after another deputy’s dog bites him and Aldridge shocks him with a Taser. The driver was charged with drug trafficking, reckless driving and fleeing an officer.

Aldridge was promoted to staff sergeant two months later. His sheriff’s personnel file shows no disciplinary action was taken.

Johnson said he sees no justification for Aldridge punching the arrested driver. Even if prosecutors don’t charge him in Cure’s death, he said, “from what I saw in the video, he deserves to be fired.”

“We need to hold officers to a higher standard,” Johnson said, “even though they are human.”