BLOOMINGTON - A McLean County judge on Tuesday approved a settlement agreement between the town of Normal and the family of a motorist who was fatally shot by a Normal police officer in 2002.

Judge James Souk also agreed to a request by the family of 20-year-old Nathan Ruch to keep the amount of the settlement private. David Dorris, the Ruch family's civil attorney, told the judge that town officials agreed to keep the settlement amount private.

No one from the town, including its attorney, was present in court when Souk made the ruling and approved the settlement of the Ruch family's wrongful-death lawsuit.

Ruch, an Illinois State University student living in Bloomington, was shot to death March 27, 2002, by James Merica following a chase. Merica, now a detective, was a patrol officer at the time.

In court documents, Merica and the town contend the shooting was justified. Merica told investigators he opened fire after Ruch drove a pickup truck toward him.

Merica violated police procedure on the night of the shooting, Normal police officials said in depositions taken during the discovery phase of the lawsuit.

However, town officials said Merica was justified in firing a shotgun at Ruch when the pickup he was driving came toward the police officer that night.

"It's very difficult to second-guess any police officer or anyone in that situation in that split second," former Police Chief Walt Clark said in his deposition.

Normal Police Chief Kent Crutcher and Merica could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The town has a policy requiring officers to terminate pursuit of a suspect for traffic offenses and minor misdemeanors unless the suspect is an immediate threat to the public.

Merica began his pursuit after noticing Ruch's pickup strike a median on East College Avenue. A short chase continued through residential neighborhoods.

The shooting occurred on Doud Court after Ruch drove behind a house and his pickup bogged down momentarily.

Merica got out of his squad car in the cul-de-sac, grabbed a shotgun from his trunk and rapidly fired four times within seconds after Ruch's pickup emerged from behind the house and came at him, Merica testified in depositions.

Clark testified that Merica was reprimanded for not terminating his pursuit of Ruch on the night of the shooting.

Clark, who implemented the policy requiring officers to terminate pursuits within city limits during his tenure as police chief, said officers and civilians sometimes are hurt during such police chases.

"Too often the officer is injured. And for a minor traffic violation - a stoplight, a 10 mile or 15 mile over the speed limit - either it ends where someone else is unfortunately killed, someone totally innocent, while the officer is pursuing, and either the officer hits someone or the car being pursued hits someone. It just seemed to me that it wasn't worth it," Clark said during his deposition.

Depositions from the lawsuit were made available to the Pantagraph by Dorris. Dorris said the Ruch family wants as much information about the shooting as possible made public now that the case has been settled.

Ruch, who had been convicted of two serious drug charges in the year before the shooting, possibly didn't want to be arrested that night because it would have been a violation of his probation.

Tests later confirmed that Ruch's blood alcohol level was slightly above 0.08 percent, the legal limit for driving. Ruch's license was also suspended.

Had Merica followed the town's policy and ended the chase, Ruch never would have been put in a position where he was driving between houses, Dorris said following Tuesday's hearing.

"The pressure was on. The kid was trapped," Dorris said. "He never had a chance to think about what he was doing. He would have called his parents and he eventually would have calmed down and turned himself in."

Based on Merica's own account of the incident and the deposition of an accident reconstructionist, Dorris estimates Ruch was driving 6 mph as the pickup advanced toward Merica.

Illinois State Police experts believe the first two shotgun blasts fired by Merica penetrated the windshield of the pickup, missing Ruch.

The third and fourth shots passed through the passenger side window. One of those shots struck Ruch in the head, killing him instantly.

Another fragment from the shotgun blast hit a nearby house and was found embedded in the window pane of a bedroom where a small child was sleeping, Dorris said.

Dorris argues the third and fourth shots were unnecessary because Merica was no longer in the pickup's path.

Moreover, Merica, who was on foot, easily could have gotten out of the pickup's path by backing up several feet to the cover of a nearby house, Dorris said.

Had the case gone to trial, Dorris said he would have presented evidence from Merica's past, which included inflammatory statements he had made about wanting the opportunity to use deadly force.

According to depositions, Clark asked administration officials weeks before the Ruch shooting to speak with Merica about "inappropriate" statements he made about two officers who had disarmed a 15-year-old.

The officers received awards for ending without violence an incident in which a teenager was armed with a gun. Merica is reported to have said the officers didn't deserve the award because they didn't kill the 15-year-old.

In his deposition for the Ruch lawsuit, Merica admitted he was critical of the officers because they had the chance to use deadly force and they didn't take it.

Dorris said Normal police should have recognized Merica's statements were telltale signs of a problem. Ruch's death may have been prevented had Merica's mindset been addressed, Dorris said.

Town officials referred all questions about the settlement to Tom DiCianni, the Chicago attorney who represents the town's insurance company. DiCianni did not return repeated phone calls seeking comment on the settlement.

The Pantagraph on Tuesday filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the town seeking the amount of the settlement. The settlement will be paid by the insurance company, Dorris said in asking that the amount remain under seal.