ORANGEBURG, S.C. — A former small-town police chief was charged with murder Wednesday in the shooting death of an unarmed black man nearly four years ago.
Richard Combs worked in Eutawville — population 300 and one-third black — when Bernard Bailey came to Town Hall to argue about his daughter's broken-taillight ticket in May 2011. Combs tried to arrest Bailey on an obstruction of justice charge, prosecutors said. Bailey marched back outside to his truck, and Combs tried to get inside. The two briefly fought, and then the police chief shot Bailey, 54, twice in the chest in his pickup.
Combs said at an earlier hearing that he was tangled in Bailey's steering wheel as he tried to shut off the ignition and feared for his life if Bailey drove away.
But prosecutors said Combs was the aggressor, following Bailey as he tried to get away.
A grand jury in Orangeburg County indicted Combs on Wednesday, the same day a New York grand jury refused to indict a white officer in the chokehold death of an unarmed black man. And it was been more than a week since a grand jury similarly refused to indict a white officer in the death of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri.
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17 comments:
This sounds extremely familiar to the incident that happened at the MSP Barracks in North Salisbury.
I hope this cop fries and I hope justice is finally served on Cpl. Anthony Meyers and Trooper Jeffrey Wilkins for their involvement in the murder of Winfield Fisher III.
1:14 I was thinking the same thing. Totally agree.
The problem is not any of these incidents are "extremely familiar." Every incident is extremely different. There are NO 2 alike. In fact it would be comparing oranges to apples to say this case is like the one in Salisbury. Salisbury incident, the car was moving and dragging the cop. This one the cop says he was afraid the car would start moving so he took action fearing for his life.
It makes me angry when those like 1:14 omit pertinent information.
When justice is served, the fact stands that not everyone is going to be satisfied or happy and that is what people have to remember.
1:48 The cop in Salisbury wouldn't have been dragged if he hadn't chased the guy and had been stupid enough to reach in the car. The cases are more similar than not. You also are guilty of omitting pertinent information. So are you now angry at yourself.
1:59, The ONLY thing that matters is one vehicle was moving, one was not. That's it, that's all. Whether someone was "stupid enough to reach in the car" makes zero difference.
The moving vehicle (Sby) was dragging the cop. The driver needed to be stopped to avoid further injury.
In posted incident the cop said he feared for his life IF the driver drove away. In Sby the driver DID drive away.
You act like it rocket science or something. It's not!
Don't run over police officers, they will not shoot you. Pretty simple. Thank you MSP for taking another life long criminal off the streets.
1:59-Pertinent means relevant.
Both cases involve an officer reaching into a vehicle. That's not pertinent. The pertinent info is what makes the cases different. In Salisbury the car moved and trooper was dragged and was getting injured or the possibility was great that injury would occur. In the other one, the officer was fearing what might happen if the car would move.
5:33 The pertinent info would be that in SC as well as Ferguson they sent it to a grand jury. They didn't in Salisbury. Get your facts straight and wake up your narrow mind.
If we had more people like 4:22, 4:40 and 5:33 around in 1776 we would still be part of Great Britain. Tories are still alive and well in the good old USA.
The cop in Ferguson was right, the NY cop and the SC cops were wrong and should be charged. Simple.
The SBY case is different in that the felon was already driving away when he was shot, the officer was already disengaged from the car when the shot(S) were fired. He should also be charged.
All of this is why Matt is right, put cameras on them and everything changes. Contempt of cop is not a crime punishable by death.
I am a retired CRACKER who believes that all lives are important, especially mine. That is why I don't screw with the police, and avoid any contact if I can.
"The SBY case is different in that the felon was already driving away when he was shot, the officer was already disengaged from the car when the shot(S) were fired. He should also be charged"
This is inaccurate. The officers one arm was stuck in the car and was being dragged, and he fired the shot that killed the man using the hand from his free arm. 2 shots were fired by the other officer. Car went less than a 1/4 mi before stopping after hitting the guardrail.
"...he fired the shot that killed the man using the hand from his free arm...".
8:48 If you actually believe that BS statement from the Police Officer I have some waterfront property in Death Valley CA that I'll give you a great deal on.
Believing the sequence of events that were stated on the record is like believing that the 18 minutes missing on the Nixon tapes was from accidental erasing.
I'm think I remember reading it went about 1/10 of a mile before hitting guardrail.
Felon? He was there because of a fix it ticket. Doesn't it even bother anyone that a kop killing someone would even need justifying?
Kops are rarely fearful of being hurt or killed, but they will use that as an excuse for killing someone when the situation arises. ( or when they can manipulate the situation to seem that way)
Simply put, the cop created the situation that caused him to fear for his life. Now the driver probably was fearful also. Do his emotions count for nothing because he is not a blue line enforcer class citizen and only a tax payer? Apparently police fear trumps citizen fear.
I would be happy if all cops feared for their lives on a daily basis. A scared dog is a compliant dog. Ohhhhh wait, thats what the cops are doing to us.
See what I did there? ;) FTP
They are throwing us a bone and then say," see, we do punish those who break the law".
I'm with 9:10 am. 100%
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