OSCEOLA – The St. Joseph County prosecutor’s office now says a Mishawaka police officer fired his gun Monday night as he was being dragged by a truck, which eventually crashed, while investigating a catalytic converter theft.

According to a news release from St. Joseph County prosecutor’s office spokeswoman Catherine Wilson, 43-year-old Eugene Nusbaum, of Osceola, was found dead in his vehicle after it crashed and flipped in the 600 block of Lincoln Way West.

According to the release, which did not include the officer’s name, the police officer was off-duty and driving home at 11 p.m. Monday when he noticed someone trying to remove a catalytic converter from a car at Schneider’s Auto Sales, in the 1500 block of Lincoln Way West in Osceola.

The officer stopped to investigate and confronted the suspect – later identified as Nusbaum – as he was getting into a white pickup truck.

According to Wilson, the officer repeatedly announced that he was a police officer and ordered the man to stop, but the man refused. The officer then stood between the door and the cab, trying to keep the man from fleeing.

The officer attempted to shift the vehicle out of gear, but Wilson said that driver put the vehicle in gear, with the officer dragged alongside the moving vehicle.

During the struggle, the officer drew his handgun and fired shots. The suspect then fled from the initial scene, driving west on Lincoln Way West at a high rate of speed.

As the driver was fleeing in the truck, he crashed into a tree in the 600 block of Lincoln Way West, which caused the vehicle to become airborne and flip over in the parking lot of a tattoo parlor.

Wilson said the County Metro Homicide Unit was called to investigate and that an autopsy has been scheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Until an autopsy is conducted, information about whether Nusbaum was hit by the officer’s shots will not be released. Wilson said the autopsy results won’t be available until Wednesday morning.

According to county jail records, Nusbaum had been arrested multiple times before, the last in March 2005 on theft charges.

Tuesday, Mishawaka Assistant Chief Mike Samp said his office is releasing no new information on the incident and referred all questions to the Metro Homicide Unit and the St. Joseph County prosecutor’s office.

Stay with WSBT.com for updates and read Wednesday’s South Bend Tribune for the full story.