he felt like Rodney King at his Supreme Court trial yesterday.

David Anthony Brangman, 30, denies assaulting two Police officers with a Chemical Shield spray outside Lines Grocery on Ord Road.

He also denies offensive behaviour, violently resisting arrest and possession and importation of a prohibited weapon.

In 20 minutes of testimony Brangman told the court his version of events on the night of June 11, 1992 which left officers P.c. James Walters and P.c.

James Outerbridge choking and crying with the substance, also known as "mace''.

Brangman claimed that prior to the incident he had been victim to daily Police harassment at his former Warwick business.

On the night of the incident, Brangman said he had been talking to his lady friend on a public phone outside Lines Grocery for two hours when the officers approached him in a Police car.

An altercation began after the driver, P.c. Walters, allegedly asked Brangman the time in a rude manner.

"I said `Why are you harassing me','' Brangman said. "He said: `I want to clean the streets of trash like you'.

"I asked him if that was proper Police conduct.

He said: `When I'm dealing with cheeky little buggers like you, then I will do as I see fit'.'' Brangman alleged that one officer choked him with a black flash light, while the other beat him about the legs and ribs with a stick.

"I felt like Rodney King or someone who lived in South Africa,'' Brangman said. He later added: "Rodney King was constantly beaten with a long black stick.'' But P.c. Walters and P.c. Outerbridge both denied having truncheons or flashlights in their possession on the night of the incident or assaulting Brangman.

Brangman admitted he then sprayed both officers in the face and left the scene laughing.

"I felt that they had got what they deserved for what they did to me,'' he said.

Crown Counsel Mr. Khamisi Tokumbo asked Brangman why told an an investigating officer during a Police question and answer statement that he had not been hit.

He also asked why Brangman had not shown the investigating officer bruising on his legs and ribs which he claimed he sustained as a result of the beating.

Mr. Tokumbo also questioned why Brangman claimed in a Police statement the spray used was Baygon and that he threw it in a banana patch.

Brangman later admitted the spray was Chemical Shield which he surrendered to Police during a search of his house.