Buck Aldridge, a Georgia deputy who fatally shot Leonard Cure, who spent 16 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, was killed during a traffic stop by Aldridge. 

Aldridge has had a terrible history with motorists. 

He was fired by the Kingsland Police Department in August 2017 for violating its use-of-force policy during a traffic stop by slamming a woman driver to the ground, according to various reports.

“I see a police officer being way too aggressive to start with,” a fellow officer who was at the scene said of Aldridge, according to the outlet, which cited an internal probe.

Cure and Aldridge came across each other during a traffic stop.

Cure was released from prison in Florida in 2020 after a conviction review unit exonerated him of robbing a drug store in 2003.

In June, Cure was granted $817,000 in compensation for his conviction, imprisonment, and educational benefits. Miller said Cure, who lived in a suburb of Atlanta, received the money in August.

The Innocence Project of Florida represented Cure in his exoneration case. The group’s executive director, Seth Miller, said he was devastated by the news of the death.

“I can only imagine what it’s like to know your son is innocent and watch him be sentenced to life in prison, to be exonerated and … then be told that once he’s been freed, he’s been shot dead,” Miller said.

The GBI said Aldridge had stopped Cure’s truck at about 7:30 a.m. in Camden County. 

The statement said the deputy had “initiated a traffic stop,” but the GBI did not explain the reason for the stop. Aldridge accursed Cure for speeding and reckless driving and shouted at him angrily, telling him he was under arrest.

Cure got out of the car “at the deputy’s request,” the GBI said.

“Cure complied with the officer’s commands until learning that he was under arrest,” the statement said.

The GBI’s statement said the deputy shocked Cure with a stun gun “after not complying with the deputy’s requests.” In its statement, the GBI accused Cure of assaulting the deputy, who shocked Cure with a stun gun a second time and struck him with a collapsible baton with which law enforcement officers are often equipped.

“However, Cure still did not comply,” the GBI’s statement alleged. “The deputy pulled out his gun and shot Cure.”

The GBI said emergency medical technicians treated Cure, but he later died.

Cure’s killing was the 80th “officer-involved” shooting in Georgia so far this year, according to the GBI. And it was the fourth fatal police shooting in the past week. 

Cure’s family has hired attorney Benjamin Crump.