A South Carolina judge declared a mistrial early Tuesday after a jury deadlocked in the case of a white former police chief charged with fatally shooting an unarmed black man in 2011.

Former Eutawville Police Chief Richard Combs, 38, stood trial last week in the shooting death of Bernard Bailey, 54, reported The New York Times.The incident allegedly occurred in May 2011 in the town hall parking lot in Eutawville, a town of about 300 people, after Combs was trying to arrest Bailey on an obstruction of justice warrant.

Combs says he shot Bailey three times in self-defense as Bailey was trying to run him over with his car. However, prosecutors say Combs was spiteful and was arresting Bailey on a trumped-up charge.

During closing arguments, prosecutor David Pascoe said Combs had changed his story in order to match the evidence and thought he was above the law because he was a cop.

"He thought he got away with it because he wears a badge. Prove him wrong," Pascoe said in his hour-long argument, according to The Associated Press.

After deliberating for 12 hours, the jury failed to reach a consensus over the verdict as only nine of the 12 jurors voted to convict Combs of murder or voluntary manslaughter.

"We just had three jurors we couldn't convince," Pascoe said.

As a result, state prosecutors plan to try Combs again.

"I'm going to take a little time, but we're going forward," Pascoe said.

Likewise, defense attorney Wally Fayssoux also expressed regret over the deadlock.

"We're disappointed we didn't get a result, but I think both sides feel that way," Fayssoux said.

In Orangeburg, where the trial was held, Fayssoux said the case was "bruising ... on both sides," Reuters reports.

"However it turns out, it's a tragedy," he said,

The Department of Justice also took one year to investigate the shooting but declined to file charges, reports Bloomberg News.

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