DANVILLE — An off-duty Illinois State Police officer appeared "drunk" and "aggressive" before he got into an altercation with a Danville man and fired his weapon outside of a Steak 'n Shake restaurant early Sunday morning, according to a witness.

Dy'Nisha Tools said she watched the incident between Trooper Cody Garza and her boyfriend, Casey Mason, unfold near the restaurant's drive-through intercom as she and her 1-year-old son were sitting in her car just a few feet away.

"I was terrified because of the fact my son was in the car," recalled Tools, of Danville.

"When I saw him reach in his back pocket," she continued, referring to the man she saw arguing with her boyfriend, "I had a feeling it was going to escalate."

The incident, which resulted in both men's arrest, started when Tools got home from her third-shift job at Viscofan around 3 a.m.. She said Mason wanted to fix peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner and go to bed, but she had a craving for Steak 'n Shake. So the couple put their son, Caseio, in the car and headed to the fast food restaurant at 408 S. Gilbert St., where Tools is a regular.

When Tools pulled up to the drive-through, she said two men were standing in front of the intercom. They had no idea that one of them was an off-duty officer.

Mason got out of the car to ask the men if the restaurant had stopped serving food for the night.

"He said they were, but they weren't serving him because he wasn't in a car," Tools remembered one of the men saying.

Mason got back into the passenger seat, and the couple watched the man continue to talk into the speaker.

"He was still standing there, arguing with the person who worked there," Tools said. "He was really aggressive, and I could tell he was drunk. When I saw his eyes, something wasn't right. (Mason) asked him if he could move. He said, 'No.' He'd had a long day. (Mason) said, 'We've had a long day, too. We just want to eat.'"

Tools watched her boyfriend get out of the car again and approach the man, who was arguing with the employee. That's when the man, who was dressed in jeans and a nice shirt, reached into his back pocket and pulled out his badge.

"He was flashing his badge, saying he was a cop," Tools said. "Casey is basically like, 'I don't care. You need to move out of the way, so we can order our food.'"

Tools fumbled for Mason's phone, synced with the car radio, to turn down the music, so she could hear what the men were saying more clearly. She didn't see what happened next, but she said, Mason's cousin, who was in a car behind hers, saw Mason push the man.

When Tools looked up, "I saw punches being thrown," Tools said. "That's when I got out of the car to get Casey. They fell to the ground. The next thing I knew I heard the gun go off, and I ran back to get in the car."

Tools heard her boyfriend yelling at her to get back into the car. Then she saw him get up, holding the gun, and start running around to the front of the building.

"He went to the front door of Steak 'n Shake. He was asking for help, but they didn't answer the door," she said.

Tools watched the other man run after her boyfriend. She drove around and waited for Mason to get into the car, then drove to the Danville Public Safety Building. At the station, Mason got out of the car, threw the gun into the grass and waited for an officer to take a report.

Tools said the incident left both of them shaking.

"He was shaking and crying," she said of Mason. "He heard the bullet go by ... and he said his ear was buzzing really bad. He thought it was going to hit him in the head.

"I was terrified that something was going to happen to my son," continued Tools, who believes someone would have ended up dead or injured if Mason had not wrestled the gun away from the man.

Tools said she believes her boyfriend will be cleared of his misdemeanor battery charge. As for Garza, "I hope he gets charged to the fullest," she said. "And I hope this wakes people up as far as some officers are concerned."

Troopers in trouble

For the third time in 16 months, a law enforcement officer's arrest made headlines in Vermilion County:

MONDAY

State Trooper Cody Garza, 28, of Braidwood, is arraigned on a felony weapons charge stemming from an incident outside a Danville Steak 'n Shake. A physical confrontation with Casey Mason, 27, of Danville, occurred sometime before 4 a.m. Sunday at the drive-through window and ended with Garza firing his weapon. Garza was in town for a Georgetown-Ridge Farm High School reunion, an official told The News-Gazette.

Next: Mason was charged with one misdemeanor battery count. Of Garza, Illinois State Police Director Leo Schmitz said: "Allegations of unlawful conduct will be investigated, and if found to be true, will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

DECEMBER

Vermilion County Correctional Officer Jonathan Maloney of Catlin is fired after allegedly bringing marijuana to an inmate. According to testimony, Maloney admitted in a taped interview with investigators that he spoke to Jerome Rowell about meeting Rowell's girlfriend, who'd give him cash in exchange for allowing drugs inside the county jail. Esmerelda Cordova allegedly delivered a package of contraband to the jail Dec. 3, 2014, which Maloney passed on to Rowell.

Next: His case was scheduled for trial Monday but was continued until Oct. 26.

MAY 2014

State Trooper Keith Lumsargis is charged with bribery and official misconduct for allegedly offering to buy a Tilton police officer dinner in exchange for giving his ex-girlfriend a ticket. Lumsargis, a 13-year veteran of the state police, is on unpaid administrative leave.

Next: The defense asked last month for its fifth continuance. The next trial date is scheduled for Sept. 21.

News-Gazette staff writer Tracy Moss contributed to this report.