Testimony is over in the civil trial of an Austin police officer and two former officers.

Attorneys for Ramon Hernandez rested their case Wednesday without calling any additional witnesses.

The defense opened with testimony from APD Officer Mike Guerra -- the officer who was first to encounter Hernandez September 21, 2005.

Guerra was investigating a minor traffic accident that Hernandez caused.

Guerra told the jury that as he spoke to witnesses, he noticed that Hernandez had left - a police bulletin was issued to find Hernandez.

An update from Officer Guerra also included the accusation that Hernandez had assaulted the woman that was also involved in the traffic accident. That update was given to then APD officer Brad Heilman and set the tone for what was to happen next.

Heilman, now a former APD patrol officer, took the stand Wednesday and recounted his confrontation with Hernandez that day.

Heilman said he had picked up a load of mail from APD headquarters when the alert about Hernandez was broadcasted - and he spotted Hernandez kneeling on the ground near a Burnet Rd apartment complex.

Heilman admitted in cross examination that he thought Hernandez was praying as he approached him.

Heilman told the jury that he ordered Hernandez to show his hands and then to get to the ground.

That didn’t happen, according to Heilman.

“He stood up, clinched his fist and said, I would have to kill him,” said Heilman.

Heilman told the jury Hernandez moved closer, and Heilman fired his Taser. Hernandez went down and fell on his back -- but Heilman said Hernandez got up, so he used the stun gun again. Hernandez, once again, fell down but then got back up. The Taser prongs were no longer connected to Hernandez’s body and he continued forward.

Heilman said he side-stepped Hernandez and began to struggle with him. According to Heilman he tried to drive stun Hernandez, which is a process where the Taser is placed directly to the body of a combative suspect. The exposed, blunt end of the Taser makes a direct electrical circuit into the skin. Heilman said the drive stun did not work, so he tossed the Taser to the ground, and pulled out his ASP expandable baton.

“I struck Mr. Hernandez in the left thigh,” said Heilman.

The blow to the leg hits a targeted pressure point that officers are trained to aim for. Heilman said he struck Hernandez four times with no affect. According to Heilman, Hernandez was “still coming at me.”

Heilman said the fight escalated and accused Hernandez of grabbing his baton, which is why he said decided to start throwing punches.

As a fist fight continued, Heilman said he was able to gain an advantage and he rolled Hernandez to the ground and onto his stomach --but as Heilman tried to use his handcuffs, he claimed that Hernandez rolled over and grabbed the handcuffs.

Heilman said he punched Hernandez again in the face but felt a tug on his gun belt.

“I looked down and see him using both hands to pull on my gun,” said Heilman.

According to Heilman his gun was almost out of the holster so he pushed it back in.

“I was scared,” said Heilman. “I thought I was going to have to shoot him.”

Heilman told the jury Hernandez eventually let go of the gun -- and that’s when Officers Chris Gray and Joel Follmar arrived.

Heilman said Gray used his Taser to stun Hernandez.

“For a couple of seconds it looked like it actually affected him,” said Heilman.

Hernandez was back on the ground and this time handcuffed.

Heilman told the jury that Hernandez seemed to be calm, was not resisting, as he was lying on the ground. But as Officers Gray and Follmar held him Heilman said Hernandez was able to jump up again.

Heilman told the jury he was no longer in the fight when Hernandez got to his feet, because he had stepped to the side to catch his breath - and said he was exhausted after the struggle.

According to Heilman, as he watched Gray take Hernandez back to the ground he moved in to help -- doing so by putting his foot onto Hernandez’s shoulder.

When asked by his Defense Attorney Tom Stribling why he did that, Heilman said he should not have done it that way.

“That was poor tactic,” said Heilman.

Heilman told the jury placing his foot in that position was dangerous and not good police technique. But he explained to the jury that he did it because he was tired and thought Gray and Follmar had control of Hernandez.

According to Heilman, he was just trying to keep Hernandez’s torso in place because they were trained to consider handcuffed suspects to still be potentially dangerous.

He said the reason why he placed his foot on Hernandez was to keep him from escaping and resisting.

Hernandez claims he was not resisting after he was taken to the ground in handcuffs and that the police officers violated his civil rights.

During the incident Heilman later kneeled down and applied a pressure point technique with the Taser to Hernandez.

He told the jury he thought about doing another drive stun but the corporal on the scene told him not to.

At some point after Hernandez’s legs were restrained, Heilman said he noticed that Hernandez had ants crawling on his face and someone called for water to wash off the ants.

Defense Attorney Stribling closed his questioning by asking Heilman if he still believes it was necessary to use the amount of force he did on that day.

“Yes,” said Heilman.

Wednesday afternoon Officer Chris Gray took the stand. He told the jury he believed the amount of force that he used was reasonable. On the video tape, Gray is seen hitting Hernandez several times.

“I would use the same amount of force again,” said Gray.

According to Gray his decision was based on his experience as a police officer and his training.

“The reason why I’m striking him is that he was pushing up and trying to roll over.”

Former Officer Joel Follmar did not testify Wednesday. On Tuesday, when he was called to the stand by the attorneys for Hernandez, Follmar was questioned about statements he made during the APD Internal Affairs review. Follmar admitted telling investigators that he felt like he had to take part in the hitting of Hernandez because he was a trainee and that he was following the lead of Heilman and Gray. But while in court, Follmar told the jury he still believes the force he used was not excessive.

Paramedic Jason Gilliam testified about what he saw and heard when he arrived at the scene. He told the jury Hernandez was handcuffed, was rocking sided to side, and was clearly confused. According to Gilliam he tried to speak to Hernandez. He told the jury that Hernandez told him he was Jesus Christ and that the police officers were the devil. When he checked his vital conditions, Gilliam determined that Hernandez’s heart rate was elevated. At that point they gave him a drug injection to relax Hernandez, placed him on a stretcher and took him to the hospital.

Closing arguments will begin Thursday morning. The jury of six women will be given the case by noon. The jury will be given the option of making a ruling on each man. While they can clear all three, their verdict could also be split.