Prosecutors say Tshamba was an aggressive, hotheaded police officer, who gunned down Brown because he “was pissed” that the former Marine had groped a woman and then refused to follow orders. Defense attorneys claim Tshamba was in danger from a drunk, much larger man who was out of control.

On the stand, Tshamba described Brown as the attacker. They had both been out partying separately with friends the night of June 4, 2010, into the next morning, before colliding as strangers in an alley behind the Red Maple Lounge.

In Tshamba’s version of events, he was talking to several women outside the lounge’s back entrance, when Brown came up behind one of them — Crystal Ramsey — and “oput his hand up under her butt and grabbed it” saying “’I’m going to take this ass home’ or something to that effect,” Tshamba said.

Ramsey hit Brown, who “phsyically grabbed her and he raised his hand to hit her,” Tshamba said, leading him to act. “I immediately told him to let her go [and] identified myself as a police officer,” he said.

Tshamba said he withdrew his weapon and they fought, Brown hiting him in the left shoulder. Tshamba retreated, keeping his eyes and the gun on Brown, running backward until he smacked into a parked car.

“Mr. Brown continued to come forward,” Tshamba said. “He had his hands outreached as if he was trying to take the weapon out of my hands.”

As he got closer, Tshamba said he fired, and Brown reached for the gun while they wrestled, trying to sweep Tshamba’s feet out from under him.

Tshamba said he continued to fire because “the guy was just way bigger than me. He was overpowering. I believed that he was going to take the weapon [away] from me.”