His voice shaking with anger, attorney Geoffrey Fieger pointed his fingers at Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Samuel Nassan as if he were holding a gun.

"Show us how you did it," he told the trooper in federal court yesterday, recounting the shooting of 12-year-old Michael Ellerbe in Uniontown on Christmas Eve of 2002. "You took aim. You pointed it right at his back."

It was one of the most dramatic moments in a day that saw both Trooper Nassan and Cpl. Juan Curry take the stand to explain how Michael was killed more than five years ago. Trooper Nassan, a 260-pound former sniper with the Marines, became teary as he described putting his hand in the boy's bullet wound to stop the bleeding.

Earlier yesterday, Michael Hickenbottom, the boy's father, took the witness stand and called his son the "joy of my life."

Mr. Hickenbottom is suing Trooper Nassan and Cpl. Curry for use of excessive force in his son's death.

Yesterday was the first time the pair had a chance to personally explain their side of the story to jurors. Mr. Fieger, the father's attorney, challenged dozens of points.

On the afternoon of Dec. 24, 2002, the troopers received a report of a stolen 1986 Ford Bronco II and headed in their patrol car toward Lemonwood Acres, a public housing complex in Uniontown that is well-known as a dumping ground for such vehicles.

As they headed down Cleveland Avenue, they saw the Bronco preparing to turn out of an alley. Cpl. Curry, who was driving, stopped the cruiser. Trooper Nassan leaned over and reset the odometer, anticipating a chase. He got out of the car, drew his weapon and approached the Bronco, shouting, "State police! Let me see your hands!"

The driver ignored him. Trooper Nassan said he saw him moving his arm up and down. Then the car lurched backwards, forcing the trooper to jump out of the way. The Bronco scraped the side of a house, knocking off siding. It eventually hit a fence and came to a halt. The troopers, who had been pursuing in their vehicle, also stopped.

Trooper Nassan approached again, but with more apprehension. Once again, he shouted, "Let me see your hands!"

"I'm 260 pounds," he said in court yesterday. "And I can yell pretty loud. Anytime I've taken anyone under arrest like that, they pretty much comply."

Michael opened the Bronco's door and ran, with his right hand in his pocket, Trooper Nassan said. He yelled for him to show his hands. Both officers started chasing him. Cpl. Curry pulled in front of Trooper Nassan. He drew his weapon.

Michael climbed a fence. As Cpl. Curry followed, he tried to holster his gun. He couldn't. Instead, he said, the weapon was in his hand as he put his weight on the top of the fence. The gun fired accidentally.

Trooper Nassan said he heard the shot. He saw Cpl. Curry slump down the fence, his face white. Trooper Nassan was sure that Michael had fired at his partner. He decided to "stop the action," using police terminology.

"I drew my service weapon from the holster," he said. "I pulled the trigger."

After the bullet hit Michael, the boy dove forward.

Trooper Nassan yelled at his partner, "Juan, where are you hit?" Cpl. Curry directed him toward the boy.

The trooper choked up yesterday as he described the shooting's aftermath, patting his eye with a tissue.

From the onset, Mr. Fieger, a prominent Michigan attorney, took an aggressive tone with both officers, implying that Cpl. Curry, who was a trooper at the time of the incident, had also shot Michael.

"Were you promoted after you shot Michael Ellerbe?" he asked him. (Several expert witnesses have said a wound on the boy's arm came from a second bullet.)

"I never shot Michael Ellerbe," Cpl. Curry said.

Mr. Fieger said there were no witnesses or physical evidence to back up their story. There was no gun residue on the fence. There was no bullet from Cpl. Curry's gun. Witnesses said they never saw Michael with his hand in his pocket. Other troopers said there was no blood on Trooper Nassan's uniform after he handled the boy.

"They were all mistaken, right?" Mr. Fieger sarcastically asked Cpl. Curry.

When cross-examining Trooper Nassan, Mr. Fieger asked if the trooper had ever used any "racial slurs," but the troopers' attorney objected to the question. Judge Joy Flowers Conti ruled that the trooper didn't have to answer.

Trooper Nassan is white. Both Michael and Cpl. Curry are black.

Mr. Fieger then challenged Trooper Nassan's thought process during the chase.

"Why didn't you turn to Trooper Curry and say -- 'Are you shot?' -- before you shot a child?

"I had to stop the action, sir," Trooper Nassan replied.

Mr. Fieger said: "He never turned around. He was running away. What action were you stopping? Some imaginary action?"