“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.
Even a short stint in prison is a traumatic experience and this guy served 16 years of a life sentence when he was innocent. It broke him and no amount of money could bring him back. This cop is not to blame for his death but the entire justice system and the part of society that didn’t want him back regardless.
The cop immediately escalated the encounter. He had hundreds of opportunities where he could have not taken Cure’s life.
It’s that he didn’t pull over instantly. Cops are taught resistance or even slowness to comply is a threat to their authority and merits escalation. If the cop is not completely in control of the situation (or if they feel they aren’t), they’re taught to take control of it aggressively, regardless of the context of the situation. Resistance is a potential threat to be extinguished quickly, ask questions later.
They’re taught to be hyper aggressive cowards.
Here’s the full video. Please give it a watch.
I once sped past a cop driving in an unmarked car (cruising in the left lane and not passing anyone). She put her lights on and I figured “well I’ve been caught, no sense in trying to slow all the way down” so I reasonably took like 30 seconds to find a place to pull over, driving at regular traffic speed.
She asked me if I was trying to run… Like, no, I’m just looking for a place to stop that isn’t the side of the road.
Cops almost instantly expect you to run or get violent, which causes people to get defensive anyway.
He pulled him over and was going to arrest him for reckless driving. The man began assaulting him. I don’t know why this needs explanation, the whole thing was on video. But why don’t you go ahead and tell us how you would have handled this, armchair cop.
Here’s a TLDW summary for those too lazy to watch the full video of what happened.
Cop driving along. Truck flies by him (he says doing 100, seems about right). Cop catches up to him and flips on lights. Truck keeps doing same speed in fast lane (3 lane road). After a little bit he flips on blinker to get over to middle lane. He stays there for 5-10 seconds then accelerated and gets back in the fast lane. Cop pursues for 30 seconds or so. Truck then pulls over.
Cop surprisingly does not pull his weapon out immediately (most would in this situation). Starts yelling at the driver to get out of the truck as he slowly approaches driver’s door. Driver gets out and asks the police officer who he is, tells the police officer that he is Yahweh. Police officer puts hand on man, man aggressively flings officer’s hand away. Cop continues yelling at the person to go to the back of the truck and put his hands on the truck. After some more somewhat belligerent talk (in my opinion more drug-addled than threateningly belligerent, the toxicology results will tell) the man complies and goes to the back of the truck and puts his hands on it.
The officer then tells the man to put his hands behind his back. The man refuses, asks why. The officer tells him he’s being arrested. The man asks if he has a warrant (?). The officer tells the man that traffic offenses in GA are criminal offenses, and he was driving recklessly. The man continues arguing. The officer warns him that he will be tazed if he doesn’t comply. The man continues arguing. The officer tazes the man, who stands still for 5 seconds or so then points up at the sky, then turns around and begins flailing at the officer. The officer attempts to subdue the man, but the man gets the upper hand on the officer and gets him in a choke hold. The officer pulls out a baton and starts whacking the man in the head with it, but it doesn’t seem to have any affect. The man, meanwhile, is clearly getting the upper hand in the altercation, bending the officer backward while continuing to choke him and repeating, “Yeah, removed!” You cannot see the officer pull out his sidearm from the position of the camera but the man goes down and it appears the officer shot him in his left abdomen area. The man continues to rant for a little bit and flail around on the ground. The officer has to keep the man at gunpoint until backup arrives and then tries to assist the EMTs and is clearly distraught at what has happened.
The bottom line is the officer was justified in pulling the man over and ended up acting in self defense. He did not even act as aggressively as some officers would have (having their sidearm already out when exiting their car after the vehicle had appeared to consider fleeing). The toxicology report will almost definitely show the man was loaded up on something, as his behaviour was anything but normal.
Go find some other (more justified) scapegoat to vent your cop hate on. This guy was just doing his job.
I watched the video earlier today. For anyone that has vision impairment: this is an extremely accurate transcription of what happened. Obviously the last two paragraphs are entirely your opinion of the events you described, but the transcription is accurate.
90% of the shit you’re talking about here didn’t happen. Yahweh??? Give me a break dude.
Cure: “My name is Ya-weh”
Officer: “I don’t care, step to the rear of the vehicle”
Cure: “In the name of who?”
Yeah, he said it
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How do you think I know you’re full of shit?
I wouldn’t have walked out of my vehicle screaming at him to get out of the car, and most departmental policy agrees with me. I wouldn’t have tased someone who wasn’t behaving aggressively, and almost all use of force continuum guidance in America agrees with me.
These policies are adopted because the ideal outcome was Cure being arrested for reckless driving, his car being impounded, and possibly additional charges for resistance and assault. Instead he was summarily executed for a non-capital crime. If you think people should be executed for speeding, then maybe you should move to Saudi Arabia, because that isn’t my America.
I wouldn’t have walked out of my vehicle screaming at him to get out of the car, and most departmental policy agrees with me
What department policy is that? How do you expect to be heard without walking up to the window and jeopardizing your own safety? How does yelling at someone justify assault?
I wouldn’t have tased someone who wasn’t behaving aggressively
I don’t know how you can watch the video in the OP and pretend like he wasn’t behaving aggressively…
Instead he was summarily executed for a non-capital crime.
Yeah that’s not what happened. He was shot in self defense after attacking and getting the upper hand on a police officer.
If you think people should be executed for speeding, then maybe you should move to Saudi Arabia
If your strategy for this discussion is to blatantly lie about the events that transpired on camera, then I’m afraid we have nothing further to discuss.
No, he was not “summarily executed”, nor was he killed for speeding.
He was PULLED OVER, for speeding and dangerous driving. After such he refused directions, and was aggressive. Despite being used, he decided to go all-in and assault the cop, who he was managing to choke out. Cop pulled a baton and tried to use that but had no success while still getting choked, so finally went for his gun and - again while STILL being assaulted and choked - put a bullet in his attacker.
If he hadn’t done so, we’d probably be seeing dashcam footage ending with a dead cop while his attacker took off and was subject of a manhunt.
Even after the shooting, the cop called it in immediately and tried to render aid.
This cop is completely and entirely to blame for his death.
Here’s what I see when I watch this: a cop fights valiantly for his life in a situation of his own making.
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Honestly, I understand why he shot. The cop came in a bit hot at first but he didn’t immediately use a gun. It only came to that after Lenny started winning the brawl and after attempting to use a Taser instead.
He even started to apply first aid afterwards. So I think the cop did okay here.
Nah fuck that. It was verbal until the cop tased him, then its not exactly shocking that it causes him to react. The cop was screaming the whole time, no de-escalation at all. Just get him to the side of the road, safe and talk while waiting for backup. It’s just more evidence of undertrained US cops. There was no reason for this man to die.
Absolutely!! Backup took 4 minutes. Leonard just wanted to know why he was getting arrested instead of just getting a ticket. He obviously hated cops, but he was perfectly willing to talk before he was tazed.
The CNN video is very deceptively edited. The full clip shows way more combativeness and non-compliance from Cure.
I didn’t watch the CNN video, I watched the one you linked. Yes, he was being an asshole, but he wasn’t threatening. His hands were still on the truck. The officer tazered him because he wouldn’t put his hands behind his back, right? He had already called for backup, though, right? All he had to do was continue to let Leonard argue with him until cover arrived. Backup didn’t arrive “too late,” the officer escalated the situation “too early.” It was literally only a couple of minutes into the stop. Some de-escalation on the officers part and the story would have been different.
I think that’s a reasonable take. It still could have been prevented by Cure simply complying with the orders- the court is the proper place to fight that- and I think the officer was well justified in attempting to arrest, but he should have only used the taser and escalated once backup arrived or he was forced to. I agree that was probably a mistake, but at the same time, with a person that combative and non-compliant, it’s difficult to say for certain.
The previous time he complied with orders from cops, he wrongfully lost 16 years of his life behind bars, ruining all future prospects. I 1000% understand why he would be asking a lot of questions with his first interaction with cops after years of abuse in a completrly for-profit system that rewards abusers.
We have no idea if he complied before. Given the fact that his sentence was only so long due to a previous record, it seems more likely that not complying was his usual stance. I don’t know this for sure, obviously, but it does seem more likely.The previous statement is misinformation, I believe. One of the attorneys in the exoneration said that he complied with the original arrest and thought he’d be able to simply explain that he wasn’t the robber, which obviously did not go in his favor. While it definitely helps explain his actions, I still do not believe assaulting an officer is the right path to take, though I do understand it better now.But there’s such a vast gulf between “complying” and “attempting to kill (or at least cause serious bodily harm to) an officer” that I have a hard time finding the officer at fault here. Why did he flee? Why did he refuse lawful commands? Why did he give his name as “Yahweh” as far as I can hear? Why did he attempt to assault the officer after being tased? What was he planning to do to the officer had he not fired, as the repeated “Yeah removed” suggested very violent intent to me. These are all valid questions that I hope we get answers to, but it’s unlikely that we will. All any of us can do is watch the video- which is the most direct evidence of the truth- and form our opinions based on that.
Even on that video, the cop sucked the entire time (due to the lack of good training). You are alone on a busy highway, the last thing you want to do is start a fight, you don’t even want to be on the shoulder like that, it’s far too dangerous. No matter how you wanna show this, the guy should never have been put in a position to be shot.
People like you are responsible for the “thin blue line” types and for the perpetuation of no accountability.
The article says Cure was going at 100 MPH for 80 seconds after the officer put on his lights. Cure pulled over in the end, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a chase, which is why the cop ordered him out so quickly. 100 MPH is already more than just a speeding ticket, that’s reckless endangerment. In general, 15 MPH above the speed limit is considered reckless. Add that to the chase, and that’s why Cure was under arrest rather than just a ticket. I agree with you, the cop did nothing wrong here. He gave lawful orders, escalated force reasonably, attempted both his taser and his baton before firing as a last resort when he began to lose the fight and his own life became threatened, and administered first aid immediately.
I’ve been pulled over for going faster than 100mph. 103 to be exact. Didn’t get arrested. It’s 100% at the officer’s discretion.
A couple of years ago, I was listening to music in earbuds and didn’t notice cop tucked in behind me for a couple of miles, while doing 126 on a motorcycle with some of the baffles removed. Because I’m of the Eddie Haskell phenotype, I only got dinged for 85 and the cop even stuck around for a few minutes to chat about the bike.
One of the reasons I’m solidly ACAB is that I almost never get popped for tickets, and when I do, they’re always knocked down by the cop to de minimis charges. Of the tens of times I’ve been stopped since the late-‘70s, I’ve eaten maybe six total tickets. Cops aren’t fair.
Yeah, I got dropped from 103 in a 70 to 79. Cop asked me why I was speeding, and I truthfully told him that it was a beautiful day, had good tunes going, and was just in a great mood and didn’t realize I was going that fast. He was a marked state trooper that was driving with traffic and I blew right past him.
I rarely get tickets because I have veteran plates and a veteran drivers license, most cops just give me a warning. Got stopped three times in one day trying to get out of Texas, all warnings. Last cop of the day gave me a weather forecast. I guarantee if I wasn’t a white dude with vet affiliations I would get way more tickets. Cops aren’t fair.
Funny, I’ve only been pulled over once on my bike, and I was just keeping up with traffic, which was going 80 to be fair… But he claimed I was going 97, so I had to go to court, where he lied his ass off to the judge, and I had to eat a $400 ticket plus whatever it did to my insurance… and I’m very white too, if I wasn’t, who knows what that piece of shit might have done.
How long did it take you to pull over after you got lit up?
Did you pull over when the cop turned his lights on or did you lead them on a chase for a couple of minutes?
Pretty sure it took him a couple minutes to catch up to me, so I don’t know of you’d consider that a chase or not.
Did you also flee, though? That’s the other thing. He kept driving for well over a minute before finally pulling over. That was the reason for the arrest, and then when he resisted arrest, only then did the officer escalate.
100 MPH is already more than just a speeding ticket, that’s reckless endangerment.
No it’s not. Here’s the proof.
You technically correct which is the best kind of correct, it’s not automatic. There is evidence to suggest that in general the 30 mph over the limit would have resulted in a reckless driving arrest.
Either way whether it would have been has nothing to do with how the situation played out.
Do you have a link to that evidence? I’d be interested in seeing it.
Here’s the legal precedent. Travis v, State
There’s anecdotal evidence as well.
https://getjerry.com/questions/how-fast-is-considered-reckless-driving-in-technically
https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/qap7u1/got_2_traffic_tickets_speeding_and_reckless/
https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/9egs7j/ga_speeding_and_reckless_driving/
There’s also evidence that they don’t always determine reckless driving at high speeds, especially when targeting for that en masse it seems.
It’s really officer discretion based on the wording of their reckless driving law. Either way, as I said, whether it would have been or not doesn’t matter in regards to how this stop played out.
That doesn’t prove that it isn’t considered reckless driving. Excessive speeding is reckless driving. They haven’t put an exact number to it and the statute is vague but this lawyers page tries listing some examples.
The link I provided is clear … if on an interstate highway he’d had to have been going 35 mph over the speed limit for charges to be applied. He was going 30 mph over so he should have been issued a $500 ticket and a court date (as further fines could be assessed by a judge).
The cop murdered him with exactly zero cause. A classic #ACAB.
If 85mph counts as a super speeder, how do you think they view going 100mph? Also your link does say:
Depending on the circumstances, a speeding violation can lead to a “reckless driving” conviction.
It’s not like not doing more than 34mph over exempts you from reckless driving when doing 100mph. No where does it say you have to be doing 35mph over for that.
Nowhere does it say you have to be doing 35mph over for that.
Yes it does … here.
Quote the part that says that for me. I’m not finding it.
He literally had his hands around the police officers neck.
After the cop escalated shit way beyond what it needed to be.
The fuck a traffic stop for a speeding ticket should become a cop murdering yet another Black man.
Maybe black guys shouldn’t be out there acting like violent thwacked out psychopaths?
He also fled and resisted arrest. Both arrestable offenses. If he would have promptly pulled over, it would almost certainly have been a citation at worst. He fled at 100 MPH for over a minute before finally pulling over. Also, how is an officer being choked out on the side of the highway defending himself with a taser, then a baton (while actively being strangled and bent nearly backwards), and only THEN a gun, “zero cause”?
A whole minute?? Wow! That like OJ’s high speed chase.
/s
Any fleeing is still fleeing. I don’t understand why you think this was an unjustified shooting. He was putting every other driver at risk, refused lawful orders, and threatened the officer’s life while saying “Yeah removed, yeah removed.” Not exactly a paragon of humanity here.
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The man was terrified and lashed out in panic.
The cop did his job correctly, sure, but he definitely did one thing wrong: become a cop for a system that tortured this man into instability.
