The Missouri State Highway Patrol says Trooper Larry Stoddard 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 Stoddard, a 10-year veteran of the patrol, 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. Stoddard 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.

It's a scene Queen doesn't like to recall.

"I've never seen anything like this, and I hope I never do again," she said.

The man's name hasn't been released but the Highway Patrol says Nevada police issued a warrant for his arrest only 15 minutes before the incident. Queen and others who know the man say he has been in trouble before. He remained in the hospital and criminal charges had not been filed by Saturday night.

As part of Highway Patrol policy, Stoddard is on administrative leave as the patrol investigates.