A South Carolina ex-police chief used "poor judgment" when he shot and killed an unarmed black man in a town hall parking lot, prosecutors said Wednesday on the first day of the cop's murder trial.
Richard Combs, a white, former police chief of small-town Eutawville, is charged with the May 2011 murder of an unarmed black man named Bernard Bailey outside Town Hall following an argument over a traffic ticket.
Before the shooting, Bailey, 54, went to Combs, 38, to speak to him about a ticket the chief issued his daughter for a broken tail light, prosecutor David Pascoe said according to Reuters.
Combs obtained an arrest warrant for obstruction of justice and went to the Eutawville Town Hall to arrest Bailey. When Baily walked out into the parking lot and tried driving away, Combs followed to his car and open fired three times to stop him from leaving, Pascoe said.
Bailey suffered bullet wounds to the head, chest and abdomen.
"Bernard Bailey was murdered for a broken tail light," Pascoe said. "He was killed because of that man's poor judgment."
After the shooting, the police chief was placed on leave before the town dismissed him six months later, according to the Associated Press. His defense attorney, John O'Leary, said people are not supposed to leave when they are being arrested.
Combs was wedged in the open door of Bailey's truck as he tried backing up, O'Leary said according to Reuters.
"If Mr. Baily had actually complied with the arrest, we wouldn't be here today," the defense attorney said. "The minute Mr. Bailey put that truck in gear, that was basically cocking a gun."
The defendant feared for his life, and since the chief had no stun gun or pepper spray on him, he had no choice but to use his gun, O'Leary argued.
Combs is one of three white police officers indicted in South Carolina in 2014 for shooting an unarmed black man, the AP reported. His trial comes after a grand jury in Missouri and another in New York voted not to indict two white officers for the shooting deaths of unarmed black men. Both cases sparked weeks of protests across the U.S. and abroad.
Prosecutors said Combs' case is not related to the other grand juries, while O'Leary said his case is not about race, Reuters reported.
