Former WSU football player Robert Barber said on the witness stand at his trial Tuesday that he hit a student during a house party last summer to subdue him.

Barber, who weighs 300-pounds and played as a defensive lineman for the Cougars, said he punched Jackson Raney with his wrist and forearm at the Phi Sigma Kappa live out on July 23 because he felt threatened.

“I know I’m big, but I didn’t want to get hit,” he said during a video-recorded interview on Aug. 4 with Pullman Police officer Scott Patrick, who also took the stand as a witness today.

Barber said he was not with the people who were involved with the fireworks that night, despite prosecution witness testimonies stating otherwise Monday. Another football player, Kingston Fernandez, was also at the party, but was sober. Upon arriving, he said a small kid who was not a football player was the one who showed him the fireworks he had.

“I gave him a disappointed look, and he walked away,” Fernandez said.

Barber said he was not interacting with his teammates much during the party and was hanging out with other people he knew that night. He did not know the alleged victim at the time, but was confronted by an intoxicated Raney earlier in the night. Barber could tell he was under the influence and said Raney was acting crazy, using profanity. Barber said he stayed calm and walked away.

He did not realize the man he punched was the same person who had confronted him earlier that night until after he was on the ground.

“I was trying to protect myself because [Raney] bumped into me, and I was trying to protect other people around me,” Barber said.

Raney’s head did not hit the concrete after the first punch, Barber said. He saw Raney trying to get back up and punched him in the chest to knock the wind out of him, so that he would stay down. He said he did not use full force in this second punch or leave bruises.

Barber said he would not have struck Raney again on the ground if he was motionless. However, he admitted during the prosecutor’s line of questioning that he did not know where the second punch landed during his August interview with Patrick.

Barber admitted while on the stand that he did not know it was Raney who was starting everything when he first hit him. He said he was protecting women, but this he did not mention this during his interview in August. Barber said he forgot to tell the police officer this.

Prosecuting attorney Daniel LeBeau went through a line of questioning with Barber relating to his job during football games, which involves moving people out of the way, and he is not allowed to punch people to do so.

Barber said he is not that strong, to which LeBeau asked if a Pac-12 football player is supposed to be strong, and Barber admitted that this is correct but still stuck with his statement.

Barber’s attorney, Steve Graham, called upon another football player, Dylan Axelson, as a witness. Axelson was at the party and also got into a fight, but was attacked by two people whom he punched back.

During the interview with Patrick, the video of which was played for the court, Barber said he was not trying to fight with Raney.

Patrick was on vacation during the night of the fight, but his supervisor involved him in the case on Aug. 2. Several days later, when his supervisor went out on disability, the supervisor turned the case over to Patrick.

As of 11 a.m., Graham has one more witness to call to the stand for the trial. Then the two attorneys will give their closing statements, and the jury will go into deliberation.