White Police Chief Gets Home Detention for Fatally Shooting Unarmed Black Man in South Carolina

The officer shot and killed Walter Bailey in 2011 while arresting him on an obstruction of justice charge.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Richard Combs, the former police chief of Eutawville in South Carolina, will not face murder charges in the death of Walter Bailey. Combs shot and killed Bailey, an unarmed black man, in 2011 while arresting him on a reported obstruction of justice charge. On Tuesday, prosecutors agreed to drop the charge of murder against Combs in favor of a guilty plea for the charge of misconduct in office.

Combs has appeared on trial for the murder charge twice, with both trials resulting in hung juries. Though a possible murder conviction would have earned Combs "30 years to life," the bargained conviction of misconduct will warrant much milder consequences. How mild, you ask?

According to prosecutors, the obstruction of justice warrant was "trumped up because Combs was angry that Bailey made him look bad on the side of the road." According to the Associated Press, Bailey had reportedly argued with Combs regarding his daughter's speeding ticket weeks before his death. The city suspended and eventually dismissed Combs following the shooting, with a $400,000 wrongful death settlement reached with Bailey's family.

 

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