A white man who was the police chief in a small South Carolina town 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.

State investigators began reviewing the shooting in March 2013 after a U.S. Justice Department investigation determined Combs did not violate Bailey's civil rights. In August 2013, state prosecutors charged Combs with misconduct in office, which carries a maximum of 10 years in prison. The indictment issued Wednesday gives no indication of why the state decided to seek a murder charge, which would carry 30 years to life in prison if Combs is convicted. Prosecutors didn't return messages, and Combs' lawyers were not immediately available.

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Richard Combs' mug shot. He's already made bail and has been released. He's the former Eutawville police chief. pic.twitter.com/9c1eKiZhpx — Natalie Caula Hauff (@ncaula) August 15, 2013

— The Associated Press