Accusations, innuendo, and sharp words flew during several heated exchanges between O.J. Simpson and a prosecutor as the ex-running back took the stand in his Florida road rage trial.

With Simpson's story contradicting the testimony of a motorist who has accused him of assault in the incident last December, prosecutor Abbe Rifkin went after the celebrity defendant with an aggressive manner. Her sharp tongue provoked chuckles and a little discomfort from Simpson, numerous objections from defense attorney Yale Galanter, and even a few looks of incredulity from Judge Dennis Murphy.

Rifkin seemed to get more riled than Simpson, repeatedly raising her voice and yelling, "Come on", as she attempted to disprove the version of events that he had recounted on direct examination.

"The guy got behind me and he started beeping his horn and he sat on his horn," Simpson testified on direct examination of the Dec. 4, 2000, altercation. "It was just one constant blare of the horn. "I got out of my car. I said, 'You can't do this. I got a couple kids in this car. You can't do it.' At that he blew up. He puffed up like a bull frog and went off."

Simpson, 54, is charged with auto theft and battery in connection with his confrontation with neighbor Jeffrey Pattinson, in which authorities say the Heisman Trophy winner swore at the man and reached into his car to forcefully grab his glasses off his face. Prosecutors plan to ask for a prison sentence if the onetime, infamous double-murder defendant is convicted in this trial. He could face up to 16 years in prison.

Pattinson, a soft spoken 55-year-old, testified Thursday that Simpson had screamed, "So I ran the damn stop sign. What are you going to do, kill me and my kids?"

On the stand, even during cross-examination, Simpson never came across as the "madman" that Pattinson described him to be. He appeared easy-going and made lighthearted jokes.

The former running back stressed the importance of his relationship with his children, describing fatherhood as his "one job" and recalling how he had talked with his daughter after the incident with Pattinson about how she could avoid such confrontations.

But mainly Simpson described Pattinson's culpability in the incident, chuckling every once in a while to himself as he painted the picture of a livid Jamaican man screaming at him in phrases he mostly did not understand.

"I heard him say O.J. Simpson," the running back boomed, holding each syllable in his nickname for a second. "I couldn't understand him. He was speaking rather quickly. He said 'You did. You did. You cut me off.'"

According to Pattinson, the incident started when Simpson blew through a stop sign, almost causing an accident. The man says he honked once or twice at Simpson's car to voice his displeasure, and that this caused Simpson to exit his vehicle and confront him. Pattinson says he stayed in his car, afraid, as Simpson, not he, yelled at him and finally snatched his glasses.

Rifkin's cross was interrupted almost immediately after she raised the ire of Galanter. At the beginning of her cross, she asked, "You never gave me a statement, did you?"

The question prompted the defense lawyer to immediately object, and subsequently demand a mistrial on the grounds that Rifkin was directly implying to the jury that his client was uncooperative with authorities.

Judge Murphy ruled against the request for a mistrial after nearly two hours during which the two sides hastily researched case law and then presented arguments on the question.

It was the second dramatic call for a mistrial during the day. Earlier, Galanter had moved for a mistrial because of discussions jurors were having about the case during breaks. Judge Murphy ruled that the subject matter wasn't prejudicial enough to Simpson for a mistrial.

In an interview at the end of the day on Court TV, Galanter said he thought his client should be found not guilty.

"I think whenever you have a he said-she said situation that is not supported by evidence, you have grounds for reasonable doubt and Mr. Simpson should be acquitted," he said.

Rifkin's cross examination of Simpson will continue tomorrow at 9:30 A.M. Asked how long she thought her cross would take, Rifkin said: "If Mr. Simpson can answer my questions directly, without going into long explanations, then we should finish pretty quickly."

The trial is being broadcast live on Court TV.