Camden County, Georgia — On Monday, October 16th, 2023, at approximately 7:30 a.m., a Camden County Sheriff's Office Deputy pulled over 53-year-old Leonard Cure as he drove along Interstate 95 near the Georgia-Florida line for speeding over 100 mph and Reckless Driving. The deputy immediately started yelling for him to get out of the truck. Cure gets out and said he wasn’t going to do anything. Cure asked if there was a warrant for his arrest. The deputy again tells him to put his hands behind his back or he will be tasered. He also tells Cure that he was being arrested for going over 100 mph and reckless driving. Cure gets tasered and while the deputy is asking him to put his hands behind his back, Cure starts swinging his arms and the two begin to fight.

Cure then appears to have one hand on either the deputy’s throat or his mouth and the other on his back. The deputy Tased Cure a second time and used a baton before pulling out the gun and firing one shot into Cure’s stomach. Cure hit the ground, and the deputy said “shots fired!” over the radio and called for more officers. At least a dozen paramedics and officers arrived on the highway shoulder within minutes. Several first responders gave Cure chest compressions for minutes before they loaded him into an ambulance. In 2020 Cure was released from a Florida prison after he was wrongfully convicted of armed robbery in 2004. He was sentenced to life in prison, but authorities reviewing his case in 2020 concluded he didn’t commit the crime. Cure was awarded $817,000 for his wrongful incarceration.