A Toronto police officer says he was attacked by four men to the point where he feared for his life after he and his partner responded to a routine apartment noise complaint.

Const. David Monteiro said if the partiers, after turning down the music, had simply told the officers to leave and shut the door, they would have.

“I don’t understand why they attacked police officers responding to a noise complaint,” Monteiro told Crown prosecutor Rebecca Edward.

“It seemed to be a pack mentality.”

Tien-Dung Pham, 34, his brother Tien-Tan Pham, 31, Ngoc Pham, 29, and Tu Bui, 32, pleaded not guilty in provincial court Wednesday to assaulting a peace officer.

Monteiro said he and Const. Kurt Bassett were called to an eighth-floor apartment at 12 Capreol Court, near Spadina Ave. and Front St. shortly after 5 a.m. on Sunday, March 4, 2012.

After the officers knocked, a man said: “Who . . . is knocking on my door. I’m going to knock them . . . out.” Another man echoed the comment, he said.

Tien-Dung Pham partly opened the door, with Tien-Tan Pham just behind, Monteiro said.

Both were aggressive, had their chests puffed out and appeared “hyper-alert,” Monteiro testified.

Tien-Dung Pham asked, “What . . . do you want,” he said.

The uniformed officers relayed the noise complaint. Tien-Dung Pham stepped forward aggressively, seemingly to fight, Monteiro said.

“The aggression just escalated.”

Tien-Tan Pham and Tien-Dung Pham each grabbed one of Monteiro’s arms, causing him lose his balance and cross the threshold, he said.

What followed was an attack inside the apartment in several waves, he said. “You’re overwhelmed with assailants.”

He said he delivered several “closed fist strikes” to “save my life, basically.”

At one point, a woman emerged. “She’s screaming that, ‘You don’t have a warrant. You can’t be in here.’ ”

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Monteiro tried to “tactically retreat,” but the men kept coming until police reinforcements arrived, he said.

The trial resumes Friday.