LOS ANGELES — Columbus Short was ordered to stand trial on a felony battery charge after a witness testified that the former “Scandal” actor delivered a running punch on a man who wasn’t looking his direction.

Superior Court Commissioner Mark Zuckman ruled Tuesday that prosecutors had shown enough evidence to support the charge, but expressed doubts about the credibility of some of the testimony from the man Short attacked.

Short struck Fenton Hyche III in the parking lot of a Los Angeles bar on March 15. Hyche suffered a concussion and fractured eye socket after arguing with Short at a family gathering at the bar.

The actor’s attorney, Michael M. Levin, argued his client was acting in self-defense because Hyche was prepared to fight Short. However, Hyche’s father had intervened and was holding his son’s forearms when the actor delivered the punch, according to testimony on Tuesday.

“He jumped up and hit him,” Hyche’s cousin Jacqueline Cheng testified, breaking down in tears as she described the blow.

Hyche briefly stopped breathing after hitting his head on the pavement, she said. “I thought he was dead.”

Hyche said he and Short had started a heated discussion inside the bar but that he was going outside to leave with Cheng, who drove him to the gathering. Hyche said he couldn’t remember several aspects of his argument with Short, but acknowledged after Zuckman questioned him that he had taken off his jersey and was prepared to fight the actor.

Short, 32, left “Scandal” after being charged in a separate domestic violence case and for hitting Hyche.

Short was not available for comment after the hearing.

–From news service reports