NEW YORK — Sean "Puffy" Combs didn't become the most powerful man in rap by sitting back and waiting for things to happen, and according to a string of police officers who testified Thursday in the music mogul's gun possession and bribery trial, the moments after his arrest were no exception.

Rather than exercise his right to remain silent when police found a loaded gun in his SUV, the witnesses said, the handcuffed Combs began wheeling and dealing with a senior officer on the drive to the station house and tried to hold a conference with his co-defendants in front of the desk sergeant.

"Cut it out! Stop it!" the sergeant finally had to tell the Bad Boy Entertainment CEO, an officer told jurors.

Through the testimony of a half dozen officers, the prosecution and the defense battled over whether Combs' aggressive behavior after a 1999 nightclub shooting and subsequent car chase showed he was hatching a bribery scheme to cover his guilt or whether he was simply trying to get to the bottom of someone else's crime so he and girlfriend Jennifer Lopez could go home.

Lopez, who was arrested but not charged in the incident, moved into the spotlight Thursday when three officers told the jury that she walked away from the crime scene as police were cuffing Combs, his bodyguard and his chauffeur. To the disappointment of fans and reporters, the singer-actress, whose own lawyer refers to her as "the superstar of the moment," has played a decidedly supporting role in the trial so far. As a potential witness she is not permitted in court and previous testimony has amounted to little more than the fact she was wearing a pale pink halter top on the night of the shooting. Her mention by police officers sent a buzz through the courtroom.

"I said, 'Jennifer, Jennifer, come back here, come back here,' and she said, 'I'm going home, I'm going home,'" Sgt. Jack Konstantinidis testified.

When another officer blocked her path, she told him she was leaving in a limousine. According to Sgt. Mark Rowley, when he informed her she was under arrest, she replied, "It's not my gun."

Combs, who faces 15 years in prison, maintains that the gun found under the front passenger seat of his silver Lincoln Navigator didn't belong to him either. He is accused of firing the weapon during a nightclub fight in which three people were shot, allegedly by his co-defendant and protege, Jamal "Shyne" Barrow. The prosecution claims Combs and bodyguard Anthony "Wolf" Jones were armed as they fled the club with Lopez in the SUV.

The chauffeur, Wardel Fenderson, is expected to testify next week that Combs and Jones were frantically trying to get rid of the guns, forced him to flee police cruisers and then bribed him into taking the rap.

Much of the officers' testimony seemed to lay a foundation for Fenderson's turn on the stand.

Konstantinidis recalled hearing over his police radio that shots had been fired inside Club New York and an officer needed help. He said he raced to the club and positioned his car so it was blocking the end of the street. Suddenly, he said, a silver Lincoln Navigator was leaving the scene of the shooting and barreling toward his car with its lights flashing and horn honking. He said he cringed and braced for impact, but the SUV swerved onto the sidewalk and around him.

"My instinct said this Navigator is no good," Konstantinidis said, explaining why he reversed his cruiser and began chasing the SUV. While he reversed, he said, he lost sight of the vehicle for 10 seconds, crucial testimony because the prosecution maintains someone in the SUV tossed a gun from the window during this time.

The sergeant described how the SUV ran 11 red lights, ignoring his siren and flashing lights. With the help of a second police car, he was able to force the vehicle over. While he got the four occupants to exit one by one, several other officers arrived.

One of those, Joseph Libraro, suggested that Combs was trying to rearrange or perhaps hide something within the car as police were closing in. He told jurors that when he peered through the door opened by Lopez, he saw Combs seated in the right rear passenger seat.

"He was bent down with his hands between his knees and I saw the round of his back," said Libraro. He shouted "Get your hands up" two or three times before Combs complied, he said.

After the vehicle was empty, Officer William Meyer found a 9mm handgun under the right front passenger seat. When no one would admit ownership of the gun, all four occupants were arrested and taken separately to the police station. Konstantinidis drove Combs, who he said began talking immediately. He wanted to know what would happen to Lopez.

Konstantinidis testified, "I said, 'She's being arrested because there's a gun in the car and no one is admitting to it.' And he asked, 'What would happen if someone admits to it?' I said, 'Most likely they'll be charged with it, but that's the DA's decision. But right now, no one is admitting to it.'"

According to the sergeant, Combs quickly replied, "Deal. When we get back to the precinct, I'm going to let you know whose gun it is."

Combs was clearly frustrated with Konstantinidis' testimony about the conversation. The 31-year-old shook his head dismissively as the officer and defense lawyer Benjamin Brafman went over and over the exact words Combs had used.

The defense claims that Combs was stricken when he saw Lopez teary and in handcuffs and was "on a mission" just as much as the police to find out whose weapon it was. The prosecution says, however, that Combs had started scheming his way out of the charges. Both point to what happen next in the station house.

Combs, Fenderson and Jones were brought before the desk sergeant to fill out initial arrest paperwork. According to Sgt. Michael Reilly, Combs whispered something first in Jones' ear and then in Fenderson's.

"Then Mr. Combs looked back at Mr. Jones and gave him a look and Mr. Jones shook his head from side to side which I took as a 'no.' Then [Combs] looked at Mr. Fenderson and he didn't say anything," Reilly said.

Konstantinidis recalled that the whispering and facial gestures continued, and Jones at one point refused to make eye contact with Combs. Finally, he said, the sergeant yelled at the trio to stop.

Later that day, after Combs and Fenderson had been in a holding cell together, the chauffeur approached Officer Meyer and said, "The gun was mine."

But several hours later, Fenderson returned to the officer and recanted.

"He told me that the gun was not his, that he wasn't going to take the rap for anybody," Meyer said.

More police testimony is expected Friday.