TROY — An investigator testifying for the prosecution said he continued questioning Justin Mann about a quadruple homicide in Troy after Mann said, "I don't talk," because the defendant had not explicitly invoked his right to remain silent and the lawman's experience that African Americans shun police.

"As we're taught not to run with scissors, they're taught not to talk to cops," said retired Troy Detective Michael E. Parrow Sr. Friday while being cross-examined in a Rensselaer County courtroom by Joseph Ahearn, the defense attorney for Mann, who is African American. "My experience is you continue to talk and try to build a relationship."

Under questioning from Ahearn, Parrow, who is white, said he would have taken the same tack if the defendant were a white male suburbanite.

District Attorney Joel E. Abelove is handling the pretrial hearing to preserve evidence that the defense attorneys want to prevent jurors from hearing at the upcoming trial, contending that police violated their clients' constitutional rights.

Parrow acknowledged Friday that during the interview with Mann he mentioned baby killers and made false promises to Mann about him seeing his mother if he confessed to the slayings.

The 24-year-old Mann and his alleged accomplice, James White, 38, are accused of killing Brandi Mells, 22 and Shanta Myers, 36, and Myers' two children, Jeremiah Myers, 11, and Shanise Myers, 5, by tying them up and slashing their throats in their basement apartment at 158 Second Ave. in Lansingburgh.

Their bodies were discovered on Dec. 26 when a property manager checked on them because they had not been heard from since Dec. 22.

The defendants are each charged with nine counts of first-degree murder, four counts of second-degree murder, one count of first-degree burglary, one count of second-degree robbery and two counts of fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property.

The indictment accuses the men of stealing an Xbox video game system and flat screen television from the apartment. Eight of the first-degree murder counts are related to the robbery and burglary charges.

Earlier Friday, Parrow told defense attorney Greg Cholakis, who is representing White, that police had ample evidence before arresting the two men in Schenectady on Dec. 29.

"Did we have probable cause to arrest? Yes, that was the basis for the decision," said Parrow.

Cholakis quizzed Parrow about any distinguishing features of the 10-speed bicycle Schenectady police found outside a home in the city during their probe that would have made it stand out.

"It was a very well maintained, adult male bike," Parrow said. "It looked like somebody had taken care of it."

Police and prosecutors assert that cameras on a CDTA bus and certain streets captured Mann and White's movements from the murder scene and other locations in Troy, where they picked up two bicycles, to Mann's Schenectady apartment where police later found a bike that matches one on the surveillance footage.

Defense attorneys counter that the footage is mostly poor and hard to make out, and accuse investigators of shoddy police work.

Cholakis mentioned a police report detailing an incident in Schenectady where Mann and White were accused of harassing some women.

He argued that the report only mentions the named James with no last name and pressed Parrow about how police linked his client to the alleged crime.

Parrow testified that the owner of Hamilton Street building where Mann lived told police that "a heavyset black male" was also staying at the apartment.

Police determined through their probe that White fit that description of people whom Mann associated with, said Parrow.

Rensselaer County Judge Debra Young is presiding over the hearings, which are expected to continue next week.