ORANGEBURG, S.C. — A white former police chief has been indicted on murder charges in the 2011 shooting death of an unarmed black man after an argument.
The indictment of Richard Combs, the former chief and sole officer in the small town of Eutawville, was released Thursday. He faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted in the death of Bernard Bailey.
Combs’ attorney accused prosecutors of taking advantage of national outrage toward police and the justice system.
“He’s trying to make it racial because his timing is perfect,” said lawyer John O’Leary. “He’s got all the national issues going on, so they want to drag him in and say, look what a great community we are here, because we’re going to put a police officer who was doing his job in jail for 30 years. That’s wrong. That’s completely wrong.”
Prosecutor David Pascoe said he had always planned to seek a murder charge if a judge threw out the former chief’s “stand your ground” self-defense claim, which happened last month.
Combs, 38, had previously been charged with misconduct in office for the shooting. He had faced up to 10 years in prison.
The indictment is one of three this year for white officers in the shootings of unarmed black men in South Carolina.
The shooting happened in May 2011. Bailey’s daughter received a traffic ticket from the chief for a broken taillight and called her father to the scene. Bailey and Combs argued, but eventually went their separate ways. The police chief got an arrest warrant for Bailey for obstruction. A few days later, Bailey went to Town Hall to argue about his daughter’s ticket. When he showed up, the chief tried to arrest Bailey, a 6-foot-6 former prison guard.
Prosecutors said Bailey marched back to his truck, and Combs tried to get inside to turn off the ignition. The two briefly fought, and Combs shot Bailey, 54, twice in the chest. Combs said he was tangled in Bailey’s steering wheel and feared for his life if Bailey drove away.
