By Larry Copeland and Marisol Bello, USA TODAY  and state and local police are trying to determine whether a hate crime was committed when a white man allegedly shot a black man to death and then dragged his body for about 10 miles behind his pickup.  A day after police arrested Gregory Collins, 19, in the murder of Anthony Hill, 30, the killing was all the talk in this town of 11,000 about 40 miles northwest of Columbia. Residents defended the diversity and improved race relations in their rural community.  "Newberry is kind of an exceptional small town," said Chris McDonald, 32, who is white and whose family owns As Time Goes By Antiques downtown. "Things here are pretty good. Maybe if you dug beneath the surface, you would find some tension. But as far as overt racism, I really don't see much of that at all here."  Police believe the men met on the job at the Louis Rich poultry processing plant in town, said Newberry County Sheriff Lee Foster. Collins had worked at the plant since August and Hill since November, said Syd Lindner, a spokeswoman for Kraft Foods, owner of Louis Rich.  Foster said the races of the victim and defendant and the dragging of the body led police to investigate the killing as a hate crime.  "We are not saying it is or it isn't," Foster said. "We thought, 'Let's make sure.' This is so gross and bizarre."  Gov. Mark Sanford, a Republican, urged residents to remain calm until police complete the investigation.  If the incident was a hate crime, Sanford said, "we recognize it and condemn it for what it would be — an isolated incident of hate that … does not accurately reflect the good and decent people of South Carolina."  Foster said Collins told police he acted in self-defense but would not say why he dragged Hill's body.  "The issue of him dragging the body lends no credence to it being in self-defense," Foster said. "We do not know what possessed this individual to drag Mr. Hill for 10 miles."  Foster said the two men spent most of Tuesday together and were at Collins' trailer late Tuesday and early Wednesday morning when the shooting occurred.  Melissa Bookman, 39, a neighbor of Collins', said she saw Collins and Hill "sitting on the porch that day drinking beer," she said. "They looked relaxed."  The county coroner ruled that Hill died from a gunshot to the head.  Collins hauled Hill's body outside, tied a nylon rope around it and dragged it behind his pickup, Foster said. Hill's body was left on the side of a highway when the rope snapped. It was found early Wednesday morning by a motorist.  Police followed a bloody trail to the trailer park where Collins lived. They found blood on Collins' pickup and surrounded his trailer for three hours before Collins surrendered.  The incident is reminiscent of the 1998 slaying of James Byrd, a black man from Jasper, Texas, who was murdered when he was chained to the back of a pickup and dragged for 3 miles.  Karen Denise Hill, 33, a cousin of Anthony Hill's, said the killer "needs to be punished for what he did because that's a sad way to take somebody's life. Nobody deserves that."  Bello reported from McLean, Va. Contributing: Sharie Harvin, WLTX-TV in Columbia, S.C.  You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference.
The shooting death of a black man whose body was dragged for several miles is being investigated as a possible hate crime after a white man was arrested, South Carolina's state police chief said.