SPRINGFIELD — A trial winding down in U.S. District Court pits two forces of nature that collide every week in the city's entertainment district and beyond: bar patrons and police.

On a typical night in 2008 when the bars on Worthington Street emptied out just after 2 a.m., small business owner Guy Larkins, of Westfield, had a run-in with police trying to contain the usual crowds. The confrontation is at the center of a $1.5 million lawsuit ongoing in federal court.

Larkins, then 35, testified at trial that he went out for a carefree evening with his buddies on the day he posed for his engagement photos. They started with dinner at the Outback restaurant in West Springfield and ended up at the Fat Cat in the heart of the city's club quarter, Larkins testified.

Minutes after the bars closed, Larkins ended up in handcuffs and with his ankle shattered in three places, according to testimony. He is suing a city police officer, Sgt. Julio Toledo, whom he accuses in a lawsuit of tackling him, unprovoked, from behind during an arrest.

John Liebel, a lawyer for the city, argued to jurors on Wednesday that Larkins and his friend were among the masses of boozy, combative patrons police encounter each week in the entertainment district.

Police testified that Larkins tripped and "rolled his ankle" on a curb while resisting arrest following an argument with a pair of female bar patrons. Officers testified that Larkins' friend brandished a knife, though other witnesses disputed this.

"If you find a piece of his story incredible, you have to consider whether the rest of it's incredible," Liebel said.

Nancy Flahive, a lawyer for Larkins, presented an expert witness who testified that Larkins, who owns a floor stripping franchise, will lose $1.5 million of potential earnings by the time he is of retirement age. She also told jurors her client is due compensation for pain and suffering, and that police violated his civil rights through excessive force.

Flahive argued that police who testified separately in the case offered vastly differing versions of what played out that night near a hot dog cart parked outside the bars. She also argued to jurors that her client is a hard-working, disciplined and mature man who owned his own business by the time he was 21.

"He wasn't out there like some 22-year-old frat boy looking to get wasted," Flahive told jurors.

She said he tried to intervene when his friend got in a verbal dispute with an irate woman and the police became involved. Video from the booking at the police station appears to show a disheveled Larkins complaining to police that his ankle was severely injured. He contends police called him "a baby" and that he didn't receive medical attention for several hours.

Lawyers offered closing arguments after six days of testimony. Jurors began their deliberations early Wednesday afternoon.