A police officer told jurors Thursday that he arrested Frank Jude, an alleged victim of police brutality, because he suspected Jude had stolen a fellow officer's badge from a house party.

Testifying in the trial of the three men accused in Jude's beating, Milwaukee Police Officer Ryan Packard said that he followed his instincts as a trained officer when, after questioning Jude, he grabbed him and took him to the ground so he could detain him.

Packard testified he left the scene when he was confident that others had Jude under control, and denied seeing any of the physical violence that civilian witnesses have described.

The incident landed Jude in the hospital with a broken nose and bruises, cuts and lacerations all over his body. Jude denies he stole the badge, which was never recovered.

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Of the roughly 15 off-duty officers who were at the party, only the party's host, Andrew Spengler, and co-defendants Jon Bartlett and Daniel Masarik were charged with substantial battery for the bloody beating.

Even so, the incident caused a major shakeup in the Milwaukee Police Dept., after many officers failed to come forward, giving rise to allegations of a cover-up within the force.

Packard and 12 other officers were either suspended or dismissed for their roles in the incident.

Packard testified he immediately noticed Jude and his friend, Lovell Harris, when the two black men followed two white women into the party.

"They were standing very close to each other and didn't appear to know anybody," said Packard, who attended high school with Masarik and went through the police academy with Masarik and Spengler.

Packard told jurors he watched the men disappear behind a wall leading to Spengler's bedroom.

But it was only later, when Spengler announced his badge was missing from his bedroom, that Packard said he suspected the two men.

"I made the determination to detain subjects so we could find the badge," he testified.

Packard, who was suspended from the force for failing to report information relevant to the investigation, said Jude put up a slight struggle as he and Bartlett attempted to get him to the ground.

"He was resisting in the beginning, but when we got him down, he didn't seem to be resisting immediately," Packard said. "He still posed a danger but wasn't an immediate threat."

His testimony contradicted statements from other officers at the scene, who claim that Jude violently resisted arrest and seemed an immediate threat to their safety.

Packard also denied that he punched or kicked the defendant, in contrast to Tuesday's testimony from former officer Jodi Kamermayer, who said she saw Packard and Masarik punch Jude to the ground.

Testimony resumes Wednesday afternoon. The trial is being streamed live on the Web at Court TV Extra.