SAVANNAH, Ga. — A federal grand jury has indicted Camden County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Buck Aldridge on charges of deprivation of rights under color of law and falsifying records, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia said Thursday.
The indictment, which includes thirteen counts, alleges that Aldridge used excessive force on arrestees on four separate occasions and falsified records to justify his actions, U.S. Attorney’s Office news release states.
“Law enforcement officers are entrusted with the authority to uphold the law—not to break it,” FBI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Paul Brown stated in the news release. “When that trust is violated, the FBI will act. No badge puts anyone above the Constitution.”
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Acting U.S. Attorney Tara M. Lyons for the Southern District of Georgia announced the indictment Thursday alongside the FBI.
Aldridge faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for each civil rights violation and 20 years for each false report.
The FBI Brunswick Field Office is investigating the case, while the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia is prosecuting it, the news release states.
Aldridge has been relieved of his duties with the Camden County Sheriff’s Office, “effective immediately” Sheriff Kevin Chaney stated in a news release Thursday saying his office is committed to “transparency, accountability professionalism.“
Previously, Aldridge was involved in a case where he fatally shot Leonard Cure during a traffic stop in 2023. The district attorney concluded that the use of deadly force was objectively reasonable in that case.
The Camden County NAACP issued a statement following the indictment:
“Today, as justice begins to be served, the NAACP Camden County Branch continues to stand with the family of Leonard Cure and the families of others who have suffered from this deprivation of their rights. We cannot calculate the curve of the arc of the moral universe with our limited day-by-day sight, but our faith is kept alive by the knowledge that it bends toward justice.”
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