Bernard Bailey, 54
Orangeburg, South Carolina
April 02, 2011
Agencies: South Carolina Law Enforcement Division SLED | Eutawville Police Department South Carolina
Last updated: over 1 year ago
Overview 
The case is one of several police killings of black men across the country that have sparked protests and renewed a civil rights movement under the banner of "Black Lives Matter."
Bailey was killed when he visited town hall to speak with Combs about the traffic ticket.
Instead, prosecutors said, Combs tried to serve Bailey with an arrest warrant for obstructing justice during his daughter's stop, where Bailey was present.
Combs tried to prevent Bailey from driving away after their argument, firing three shots that struck Bailey in the chest, abdomen and head, prosecutors said.
The defense argued that Combs feared he would be run over and was in reasonable fear for his life.
Legal Action
April 2014 Claim settlement $400,000
Eutawville Police Chief Richard Combs was charged with murder after fatally shooting Bernard Bailey, an unarmed black man. After two trials and two deadlocked juries, a plea deal reached with prosecutors sentenced Combs to home detention.
Additional Resources:
- http://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/s-c-police-chief-charged-murder-2011-shooting-unarmed-man-n261541 added March 21, 2016 04:39
- http://www.buzzfeed.com/salvadorhernandez/murder-charge-dropped-against-south-carolina-cop-in-2011-sho#.ktdY09pea added March 21, 2016 04:37
- http://bigstory.ap.org/article/54fe4eeb73004df28b836a63ec831f49/latest-no-prison-ex-chief-black-mans-death added March 21, 2016 04:33
- http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/12/04/3599718/today-in-south-carolina-a-white-ex-cop-was-indicted-for-shooting-a-black-man/ added March 21, 2016 04:31
- http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/12/16/police-accountabilitysouthcarolina.html added March 21, 2016 04:29
- http://mashable.com/2015/09/01/white-police-chief-home-confinement/#NXf.PeY4fsq3 added March 21, 2016 04:27
- http://thefreethoughtproject.com/police-chief-sentenced-house-arrest-killing-unarmed-man-town-hall-parking-lot/ added March 21, 2016 04:23
- http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/09/01/436703742/former-police-chief-in-s-c-sentenced-to-house-arrest-over-unarmed-mans-death added March 21, 2016 04:21
- http://thetandd.com/news/eutawville-bailey-family-settle-lawsuit-for/article_5b040536-cfba-11e3-983c-001a4bcf887a.html added March 21, 2016 04:20
- http://operation-nation.com/?p=59 added March 21, 2016 04:18
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alton-b-pollard-iii/bernard-bailey-a-conseque_b_6699320.html added March 21, 2016 04:12
- http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/14/south-carolina-former-police-chief-faces-retrial-death-black-man added March 21, 2016 04:09
- http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-south-carolina-murder-idUSKCN0JI1UX20141204 added March 21, 2016 04:08
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHkJGTDMylA added March 21, 2016 04:06
- http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/9/3/1418033/-After-shooting-killing-an-unarmed-black-man-South-Carolina-police-chief-gets-outrageous-plea-deal added March 21, 2016 04:01
- http://legacy.wltx.com/story/news/2015/09/01/murder-charge-dropped-against-ex-police-chief/71529214/ added March 21, 2016 03:59
- http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20140429/PC16/140429313 added March 21, 2016 03:58
- http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20141204/PC16/141209765 added March 21, 2016 03:44
- http://www.cbsnews.com/news/richard-combs-white-police-chief-south-carolina-plea-deal-shooting-narmed-black-man/ added March 21, 2016 03:43
- http://abcnews4.com/archive/basic-timeline-the-death-of-bernard-bailey added March 21, 2016 03:42
- http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/14/us/ex-police-chief-richard-combs-bernard-bailey-south-carolina.html?_r=0 added March 21, 2016 03:40
- http://www.wrdw.com/home/headlines/Traffic-ticket-led-up-to-shooting-murder-indictment-of-former-Police-Chief-284842141.html added March 21, 2016 03:39
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3132294/Mistrial-case-ex-South-Carolina-police-chief.html added March 21, 2016 03:38
- http://www.thestate.com/news/local/crime/article33213873.html added March 21, 2016 03:36
- http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/Article/74635/arbitrary-police-punishments-detentions-killings-torture-extra-judicial-punishments-summary-executions-of-people-of-african-descent-1982-2015 added March 21, 2016 03:34
- http://www.newsweek.com/murder-charge-dropped-against-former-south-carolina-police-chief-death-unarmed-367820 added March 21, 2016 03:32