By Harriet McLeod

CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) - A white former police chief in Eutawville, South Carolina, has been indicted on a murder charge in the 2011 shooting death of an unarmed black man he was trying to arrest, according to records released on Thursday.

The indictment of ex-chief Richard Combs came on Wednesday, the Orangeburg County Clerk of Court said, on the heels of decisions by grand juries in New York City and Missouri not to indict white police officers involved in deaths of unarmed black men this year.

Combs fatally shot Eutawville resident Bernard Bailey, 54, in the town hall parking lot in May 2011 after they argued and scuffled over a traffic ticket previously issued to Bailey's daughter.

Combs had already been indicted in August 2013 in connection with the shooting on a misconduct in office charge, with a grand jury finding that his use of deadly force was unjustified, according to court records.

The former chief has argued he shot Bailey in self defense, but a judge recently rejected his "Stand Your Ground" claim in the earlier case.

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Richard Combs, a former Eutawville, South Carolina police chief, who was indicted by a grand jury in …

Wally Fayssoux, one of the lawyers representing Combs said Bailey put Combs in "an impossible situation," adding "he had no choice."

A trial is tentatively schedule for January, he said.

Solicitor David Pascoe, whose office is prosecuting the cases, declined to comment through a representative.

Carl Grant, the Bailey family's lawyer, said they attended Combs' court hearing on Thursday, where a judge ordered a $150,000 bail.

Grant said the prosecutor's office had indicated more than a year ago that it was considering a murder charge against Combs, which Bailey's family felt the case warranted.

"The family was simply looking for some sense of justice that represents what actually happened, in their mind," Grant said. "This indictment for murder is not something the solicitor decided to do at the last minute or in light of today's media."

The murder indictment against Combs was issued on the same day that a New York City grand jury opted not to bring charges against a white police officer in the chokehold death of an unarmed black man.

Last week, a grand jury in Missouri choose not to indict a white police officer in the killing of a black man there. The decision in that case sparked a rash of violence in Ferguson, Missouri, where 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot dead, with businesses burned down and looted.

(Reporting by Harriet McLeod; Additional reporting and writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by David Adams and Sandra Maler)

The New York City Police Department has launched an internal investigation into the choke hold death of Eric Garner at the hands of a police officer, one day after a grand jury announced that they would not be indicting the officer on criminal charges.

The officer involved in the controversial incident, Daniel Pantaleo, may now be interviewed by internal affairs officers, but the other officers who were on the scene may come first as they are scheduled to be interviewed on Friday, police sources told ABC News today.

If the internal affairs investigators recommend a punishment, a department judge will be the one to decide if it is enacted.

The NYPD investigation is the second process that Pantaleo is going through, and he is also the subject of a federal civil rights investigation and can expect a civil wrongful death lawsuit from Garner's relatives.

"This is not the end of the story -- only the end of a chapter," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement released this morning.

A Staten Island judge approved the release of some information pertaining to the secret grand jury who decided not to indict Pantaleo with any criminal charges relating to the death of Eric Garner, a 43-year-old man who was allegedly selling loose cigarettes at the time of the July 17 incident.

The jury met over nine weeks, hearing from 50 witnesses that included 22 civilians and the rest were police officers or emergency medical responders.

The jurors saw 60 other exhibits, including videos, photos and records.

Both Attorney General Eric Holder and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New YorkLoretta Lynch, who is also President Obama's nominee to succeed Holder, spoke out on Wednesday, confirmed that they had informed Garner's widow of the federal civil rights investigation.

"Our prosecutors will conduct an independent, thorough, fair and expeditious investigation," Holder said Wednesday.

NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton confirmed that the department trial and investigation into Pantaleo's actions will begin soon.

Former Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who is now a contributor to ABC News, said the burden of proof is far lower in an internal investigation where a "preponderance of evidence" must be supplied to support a finding against an officer, whereas grand jury decisions are based on probable cause.

Though he estimated that an internal decision could be handed down in about six months, Kelly said it was "very difficult to say because normally they have a calendar for these things but because of the public scrutiny, they're going to move it up."

The department trial will definitely not begin this week, however, because both sides -- Garner's family's attorneys and Pantaleo's attorneys -- have been focusing on the grand jury investigation up until now, Kelly said.

"They need time to prepare their case," Kelly said.

The final avenue of potential punishment, which may end up taking the longest, is the civil trial that would come when the Garner family files a wrongful death lawsuit. Garner's relatives and their attorney have already taken the first step in the process -- which in New York City involves notifying the NYPD that they intend to sue, in this case for $75 million.

For the time being, 29-year-old Pantaleo has been suspended with pay and had both his gun and badge taken away pending the internal investigation. He has maintained his innocence and put out a statement after the grand jury decision was announced Wednesday.

"I became a police officer to help people and to protect those who can’t protect themselves," Pantaleo said. "It is never my intention to harm anyone and I feel very bad about the death of Mr. Garner. My family and I include him and his family in our prayers and I hope that they will accept my personal condolences for their loss."

Pantaleo's suspension, and the apology he offered in a statement Wednesday after the grand jury decision was announced, was not enough for Garner's widow. When asked if she would accept his apology, Esaw Garner said: "Hell no!"

"He's still working, he's still getting a paycheck, he's still feeding his kids, and my husband is six feet under," she said.

ABC News' Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.

New York City Police arrested 223 people in overnight protests, the second consecutive night of demonstrations in opposition to a grand jury’s decision not to indict officers in the choke hold death of Staten Island man Eric Garner.

Many of the arrests involved charges for disorderly conduct or refusal to clear the streets, authorities told ABC News.

John Minchillo/AP Photo

PHOTO: Protestor Rayyan Ali cries as her protest group occupies Herald Square Dec. 4, 2014, in New York, in response to a grand jury's decision not to indict the police officer involved in the death of Eric Garner.

The protesters gathered in downtown Manhattan's Foley Square and chanted "I can't breathe" and "No justice, no peace" before marching across the Brooklyn Bridge, carrying replicas of coffins. Another group started in Harlem. The marchers also disrupted traffic near the Holland Tunnel, the Manhattan Bridge and on the West Side Highway.

A brief clash was reported between protesters and police in Times Square, but the situation was brought under control.

Jason DeCrow/AP Photo

PHOTO: Protesters rally against a grand jury's decision not to indict the police officer involved in the death of Eric Garner in Foley Square, Dec. 4, 2014, in New York.

Some of the protesters voice their feelings using attire.

John Minchillo/AP Photo

PHOTO: Protesters occupy Herald Square during march, Dec. 4, 2014, in New York, against a grand jury's decision not to indict the police officer involved in the death of Eric Garner.

The grand jury’s vote not to bring an indictment in Garner’s death – along with a similar outcome to the August police shooting of unarmed black teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri – has brought national unrest, with demonstrations in cities such as Washington, D.C., Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit and Denver.

Jason DeCrow/AP Photo

PHOTO: Protesters rally against a grand jury's decision not to indict the police officer involved in the death of Eric Garner in Foley Square, Dec. 4, 2014, in New York.

Civil rights leaders are hopeful about a forthcoming federal investigation into Garner’s death, but said reform is needed. At a news conference in New York after a night of protests led to 83 arrests, the Rev. Al Sharpton called the state-level grand jury system "broken" when it comes to police brutality cases and urged federal authorities to fix it.

"The federal government must do in the 21st century what it did in the mid-20th century," he said. "Federal intervention must come now and protect people from state grand juries."

John Minchillo/AP Photo

PHOTO: Protestors occupy Herald Square during march Dec. 4, 2014, in New York, against a grand jury's decision not to indict the police officer involved in the death of Eric Garner.

Politicians and others talked about the need for better police training, body cameras and changes in the grand jury process to restore faith in the legal system.

"A whole generation of officers will be trained in a new way," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio vowed as he and his police commissioner outlined previously announced plans to teach officers how to communicate better with people on the street.

President Obama also weighed in, saying one of the chief issues at stake is "making sure that people have confidence that police and law enforcement and prosecutors are serving everybody equally."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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