Rip Torn, on trial on drunken driving charges, was combative with police after he was involved in a Manhattan car crash because he was angry about how they treated him, not because he was drunk, the veteran actor’s lawyer said yesterday.

Police said Mr. Torn kicked at them, tried to butt them with his head and shoulders, cursed at them, called them names, and challenged them to fist fights. They said he also refused to take sobriety or blood alcohol tests.

Mr. Torn’s lawyer, Adam Levy, said in his opening that Mr. Torn had a drink and a half at a funeral before his red 1990 Volvo slammed into the back of a taxi cab on Seventh Avenue at Grove Street on January 13 at 12:40 a.m. He said the taxi had cut in front of Mr. Torn.

Mr. Levy said a police officer on foot patrol heard the crash and mistakenly thought Mr. Torn was intoxicated when he said “What? Huh? What did you say?” when she went to his car and asked whether he was hurt. In fact, Mr. Levy said, the 73-year-old actor “wasn’t wearing his hearings aids.”

The officer, Vanessa McBride, testified during a pretrial hearing that Mr. Torn smelled of alcohol, looked disheveled, and had red, watery eyes.

Police investigating the collision decided immediately – and wrongly – that it was the actor’s fault, Mr. Levy said. He said they arrested Mr. Torn and handcuffed him.

Mr. Torn is on trial in Manhattan’s Criminal Court on a charge of driving while intoxicated.