OSCEOLA — Investigators ruled that the police shooting of an Osceola man in August was justified. But the man's family says the final report raises more questions than it answers.

Investigators from St. Joseph County's Metro Homicide Unit issued the final report Tuesday.

It clears Mishawaka Police Detective Jeremy Tyler of any wrongdoing for the shooting death of Eugene Nusbaum, 43, because Detective Tyler acted in self defense.

Prosecutors ruled that Tyler's life was in danger when he pulled the trigger, because Nusbaum's truck would have run him over.

Investigators say Tyler was on his way home from work, in an unmarked car, when he saw Nusbaum trying to cut a catalytic converter out of a minivan at Schneider Used Car Lot on Lincolnway West in Osceola.

"Detective Tyler was justified in using deadly force necessary to protect himself from what he reasonably believed to be the imminent use of unlawful force to prevent serious bodily injury or death to himself,” explained St. Joseph County Prosecutor Mike Dvorak during a news conference Tuesday.

Investigators say the evidence showing why is overwhelming.

The first piece they presented, centered around the reason Tyler stopped.

"As he approached Schneider’s Auto Sales, [Tyler] observed a white Toyota Tundra pickup truck parked in front of the business. The pickup truck was running, facing westbound, with its headlights on. Detective Tyler heard what he believed to be the sound of metal being cut by a
power saw. Schneider’s Auto Sales was closed for the evening," said Dvorak.

As Tyler parked his car, he says Nusbaum emerged from behind a red minivan.

At Tuesday's news conference, prosecutors confirmed for the first time that another witness had also seen Nusbaum in the lot that night.

"Specifically, this witness stated he was on his way from the Elkhart
area to his place of employment when he drove westbound past Schneider’s Auto Sales. He noticed a white Toyota Tundra pickup truck parked, facing westbound, on the north side of the road directly in front of a red mini-van. The witness also saw what he described as a pair of legs hanging out from underneath the red mini-van. This witness stated that, because the lot was very well illuminated, he could tell that this individual was wearing blue-colored pants," Dvorak said.

Nusbaum was wearing blue pants that night, confirmed Dvorak.

"Mr. Nusbaum threw a yellow electric reciprocating saw, commonly referred to as a “Saws-All," into the bed of the truck and proceeded around the front to the driver’s door when Detective Tyler pulled up," said Dvorak.

St. Joseph County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Ken Cotter presented several pictures of a yellow saw, sitting on the pavement outside of Nusbaum's overturned truck.

The truck went off the road and hit a tree near the IronButterfly Tattoo Parlor, flipping over before coming to rest on its roof.

"After the truck flipped, [the saw] landed here, and the battery was here," Cotter said, pointing with a laser pointer to a spot about 10 feet away from the truck in the Tattoo Parlor parking lot.

Nusbaum's girlfriend of nine years, Kimberly Cole, admits she'd seen the saw before.

"He did have a saw," she said. "But the saw's been in the truck. It was in the truck."

Cole says she's certain the saw wasn't used to cut the exhaust pipe on the red minivan.

Though Cotter presented several pictures of the underside of the van, showing where the exhaust pipe had been sawed off in one area, and damaged in another, right next to the van's catalytic converter, he said forensic investigators couldn't prove the saw found near Nusbaum's truck was the exact one used.

No fingerprints were able to be recovered from the area under the minivan, said Cotter.

But Cotter says the tool marks left on the damaged area are "consistent" with the saw's blade.

Next, prosecutors moved to the struggle between Tyler and Nusbaum.

"Detective Tyler was able to reach the truck prior to Mr. Nusbaum being able to shut the driver’s door, and positioned his body between the door and the cab of the vehicle," said Dvorak. "With the truck
running, Mr. Nusbaum tried to put the car into gear. Detective Tyler pulled the gearshift into park. He again identified himself as a police officer and told Mr. Nusbaum to stop. Instead, Mr. Nusbaum pushed the gas pedal to the floor and pulled the gear shift down into the drive gear."

Dvorak says that sequence replayed itself several times, before the truck began to accelerate more violently, leaving a patch of rubber behind on the road.

Dvorak says Tyler decided to take action.

"Detective Tyler had his police radio in his right hand. He called out to the Mishawaka Police dispatch, telling them that he needed an Osceola Police unit at the car lot. When Mr. Nusbaum continued to put the vehicle in gear, Detective Tyler hit Mr. Nusbaum several times in the mouth with the battery end of his radio, hoping that this would cause him to stop his attempts to flee."

But Dvorak says Nusbaum instead made a sudden movement toward the passenger side of the truck, and Tyler was concerned he might be reaching for a gun.

"Detective Tyler told Mr. Nusbaum that if he did not stop, he would be shot. Mr. Nusbaum continued to keep the acceleration pedal pressed to the floor, and fought to keep the gearshift in drive. Finding no alternative available, Detective Tyler then dropped his police radio and pulled his duty weapon, firing three times," said Dvorak.

An autopsy later showed two of the three shots hit Nusbaum, one in the head and one in the chest. That, said investigators, provided another clue.

"There's stippling in the wounds," explained Cotter. "And that [means they] had to be fired between 1 and 3 feet."

Three shell casings were recovered near the area where the tire marks stopped. Ballistics testing later matched them to Tyler's gun.

Footprints matching both Tyler's and Nusbaum's shoes were also recovered in a dirt covered on the eastern end of the car lot. But no shoe impressions were made on the other end of the lot, where Tyler says he was dragged, and Nusbaum was shot.

For Cole, that raises a red flag.

"It just don't make sense," she said. "How did he manage to get to his gun, being drug at a high speed down the road, and able to shoot him, chest and head?"

Cotter says the explanation is simple.

"He never lost his footing. And so, he's running, sideways," Cotter said. "When the truck accelerates, his life is in serious peril."

But Cole says, because he wasn't being dragged at the time he pulled the trigger, he wasn't in immediate danger, and didn't have to shoot.

"He could've done a number of things. Don't they carry mace? Don't they carry taser? If he was that close, and had enough time to keep bickering over the gear shift, as they say, then he had plenty of time to mace him," she said.

But investigators say Tyler did try to stop the car in other ways.

"His first resort was to verbal commands. Second resort was physically pulling the gearshift back. Third alternative was striking with his police radio. And, when none of that caused Mr. Nusbaum to stop the vehicle, fearing for his own serious bodily injury or death, he used his duty weapon," said Dvorak.

For investigators, it's a cut and dry case.

"His life was in serious peril," repeated Cotter.

But for Cole, it still doesn't add up.

"[I feel like a crime's been committed here,] I do," said Cole. "Murder. "As far as we can take it, we're gonna take it."

Cole says she's already spoken with an attorney about filing a wrongful death lawsuit.

Detective Tyler remains on administrative leave with pay. He'll go before the Mishawaka Police Department's shooting review board later this week for a reinstatement hearing.

Click here to see a diagram of the crime scene.

Read the prosecutor’s final report on the Nusbaum shooting.