SUMTER, SC (WIS) -
The fiancée of a man who was shot and killed by a trooper during a DUI traffic stop on Saturday says he didn't sound intoxicated about an hour and a half before the incident.
Trooper Brandon Stokes pulled 24-year-old Devin Taylor over for speeding around 6:30 p.m. near the intersection of Beckwood Road and Highway 521.
Investigators say the two got into a struggle after Taylor failed a field sobriety test and then resisted arrest. When Stokes wasn't able to use his Taser to subdue Taylor, he shot him twice.
The coroner said Taylor died from bullet wounds to the chest and the stomach.
"It feels like half of me went with him," said the mother of Taylor's children, Betsy Crawford. "I am very upset at the officer that did this."
Betsy believes Taylor was headed home from a back-to-school community event when the incident happened.
"I don't know if he was [drinking] or not," said Crawford. "I know when I spoke to him at five he did not sound intoxicated."
Crawford said Taylor doesn't own a gun and was a happy person. "It shouldn't have gotten to the point where his life was taken," she said.
DPS says Stokes has been with the highway patrol since 2008. He has been put on desk duty while SLED investigates.
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Devin Taylor
