“He and his family deserved better,” the Innocence Project of Florida said in a statement. “Lenny’s life mattered.”
Cure’s quest to rebuild his life after being wrongfully convicted in 2003 ended tragically on the shoulder of Interstate 95 in South Georgia on Monday morning.
On Wednesday, the Camden County, Georgia, sheriff’s office released body-worn and dash camera videos of the moments leading up to the shooting.
In the dash cam video, the deputy begins pursuing Cure with his sirens on after Cure’s vehicle passes his. The pursuit lasts about one minute and 20 seconds.
I am well, well aware of how shitty the system is, I assure you. But given how you patronized me (“Maybe try to live a little more empathetically”- sincerely, go fuck yourself, you self-righteous prick), I don’t feel like arguing. All I’ll say is this- Leonard Cure’s death is a sad situation that was avoidable with different choices from either party. The officer made mistakes, but given Cure’s erratic behavior (my bet is that toxicology will show that he was high on some sort of stimulant given the strange “Yahweh” answer, the disjointed head and arm movement, aggression, and lack of pain response to the taser, baton, or bullet), combativeness, and noncompliance, I completely understand why the officer defended himself. If this was an “obvious egregious case”, then why is it being discussed here and throughout the internet?
Yes, my singular patronizing statement definitely warrants your over the top response.
It’s so sad to see how you’ve already convinced yourself of how he was guilty of SOMETHING before even knowing this, which is why I made the suggestion towards an empathetic approach. You’re clearly defending the cop and trying to show how the victim (the one who died in this exchange) was wrong after all. You said this knowing full-well that he has wrongfully spent a signifficant portion of his life behind bars, being berated by guards (which is how the system works), growing jaded and distrustful towards the broken system that ruined his life. You hammer on his non-compliance, where his compliance in the past did not grant him ANY justice.
I’m sure both sides made mistakes, HOWEVER, the weight of making better choices and acting appropriately rests on the shoulders of the officer enacting the law. That’s his job FFS. I’ve seen enough footage of officers escalating situations, switching off body cams before committing crimes, etc. and not being punished in any way. The cop is not the victim here. And you’re blaming the only victim in this scenario. His life is a tale of victimhood, and you cannot seem to fathom that his actions have been molded by a corrupt and broken legal system.