BRENTWOOD — A convicted bank robber stood in the witness box Friday agonizing about whether to testify in his own defense against charges he injured a Windham police officer during a high-speed pursuit before finally deciding against it.

The moment happened while the jury was taking a break from the trial of Clint Pickering, 27, who is accused of striking Windham police Officer Jason Dzierlatka while driving a getaway car from a bank robbery on Sept. 18, 2009.

The case went to jury late Friday afternoon. Jurors begin deliberating Monday.

Pickering ultimately decided against testifying after hearing that his family, especially his mother, was upset by his decision to take the stand. But he made light of his sudden reversal in course while passing by the prosecution table.

“You had your chance,” he said to two prosecutors while making his way back to the defense table.

Judge N. William Delker quizzed Pickering for several minutes about his decision not to testify before ultimately finding the 27-year-old made a knowing and voluntary decision to not take the stand.

Jurors were then brought back into court room 1 to hear closing arguments.

Defense lawyer Neil Reardon said witness after witness — mostly police officers who took part in the pursuit — could not identify Pickering as the driver who fled from the Bank of New England and got on the interstate during rush-hour traffic.

A retired police captain testified Thursday he saw Pickering behind the wheel during the pursuit after the getaway car spun 360 degrees and briefly came to a stop while northbound on I-93. But the defense suggested the testimony was unreliable because Pickering was never identified in a report written by the police captain after the incident.

During the pursuit, Dzierlatka tossed a spike mat while standing near a truck scale along Interstate 93 as a green Dodge Avenger came south along the highway. The car allegedly veered toward the officer and hit him.

Dzierlatka suffered a compound fracture to his left foot, sending his boot 20 feet and leaving a bone protruding from his skin, according to court testimony. After multiple surgeries and months of physical therapy, he returned to work in May.

Calling on an accident reconstruction expert, Reardon argued on Friday that the driver had no intention to hit Dzierlatka, and had no time to make such a decision while traveling between 90 to 102 mph along the highway.

“They were trying to get away,” Reardon said. “They weren’t trying to kill cops. They weren’t trying to hurt cops.”

Assistant County Attorney Brad Bolton told jurors there was plenty of evidence to support convicting Pickering on all 10 charges against him.

Jurors will be able to see that Pickering pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting in the bank robbery by being the driver in the case, Bolton said. Pickering is serving an 11½-year federal prison sentence in that case.

A customer at the bank testified she saw Pickering’s partner in the robbery, Patrick McKeen, get into the passenger seat of the car. The woman testified she left the scene before the car took off.

A DNA sample from blood in the getaway car’s airbag was matched to Pickering, Bolton said.

State trooper Derek Holston testified that he spotted Pickering standing near the driver’s side door of the getaway car seconds after it crashed into a second vehicle along Route 110 in Dracut, Mass.

Massachusetts State Trooper Matthew Lativa testified after Pickering was arrested, he and his partner made sure neither would talk about who was driving the car after the robbery.

“They were yelling back and forth to each other,” Lativa testified. “They (agreed) neither one would make any statements about who was driving.”

jkimble@newstote.com