Stockton, MO

Sgt. Dan Bracker of the Missouri State Highway Patrol says this could have been avoided if the man had complied with the trooper’s requests. “There are some people who have to learn the hard way and, unfortunately, this is one of those situations”

A Missouri State Highway Patrol Trooper in Cedar County fired a shot, sending a man to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. The incident happened about 1 a.m. Saturday, just south of Stockton off Missouri 39.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says the trooper, who remains unidentified, pulled over a pickup because he suspected the driver was intoxicated. The situation escalated to the point of the trooper using deadly force.

A Friday night of fun suddenly changed for Diana Queen. She was running the karaoke equipment at a bar south of Stockton.

“Somebody came back in and said the police officer had chased somebody past, out here, and they were still out here,” Queen said on Saturday afternoon.

Witnesses at the Vikings Office Bar say a pickup pulled into the parking lot and a trooper’s car followed. Both vehicles pulled behind a wooden fence near the back of the bar, and that’s where the struggle occurred.

Queen went outside, concerned someone she knew might be involved. She says she saw two men wrestling on the ground.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says the trooper asked the man to get out of his pickup but he didn’t comply. That led to a physical struggle.

“He went combative, on-hands combat with the subject, used Mace, used the expandable baton,” said Sgt. Dan Bracker, a spokesman for the Highway Patrol.

Queen says she couldn’t see details, because of the poor lighting, but heard everything.

“I was going to go back in to tell my boss to call some more help for the officer, because they were wrestling, and I was afraid he might get hurt, and I stopped when I heard the policeman say, ‘You’re not so f**ing tough now, are you?’ and so I stopped and turned around,” Queen said.

“The last thing he wanted to do was shoot that subject but that trooper was concerned for his own life,” Bracker said.

“I heard a shot, couldn’t see anything, so I think it was like, close up.” Queen said. “I said, ‘You shot him!’ And I screamed; it scared me to death, and this guy fell on the floor and goes, ‘Help me! He’s killing me!’ And the policeman stumbled that way, so he was standing up, trying to keep from falling down,” Queen said.

An ambulance took the man to the hospital in Bolivar with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. The trooper wasn’t injured. The Highway Patrol says this could have been avoided if the man had complied with the trooper’s requests.

“There are some people who have to learn the hard way and, unfortunately, this is one of those situations” Bracker said. More >>