Felipe Vazquez, the suspended Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher accused of sex crimes involving an underage girl, on Tuesday denied he confessed to police and said he feared he could be shot if he didn’t cooperate with their investigation.

The 29-year-old testified for more than two hours during a pretrial hearing before Westmoreland County Judge Scott Mears that raised claims Vazquez’s confession was wrongly obtained and a police search of his residence in Pittsburgh’s Strip District last September was improper.

Speaking in English, Vazquez, who claimed he could not spell his own last name — which he changed in 2018 — described his upbringing in Venezuela. He said he formed a distrust and fear of law enforcement after a cousin was shot in the back by police officers. That experience, he testified, left him even more sympathetic to the Black Lives Matter movement in this country when he was questioned by investigators from Pennsylvania and Florida on Sept. 17.

“People are scared of police. You have to do whatever they say, or they will put you in jail or shoot you,” Vazquez said of his experience with authorities in his native country.

Vazquez is accused of having improper sexual contact with a 13-year-old girl in Scottdale in 2017 and two years later with the same accuser after she moved to Florida. He also is charged with pornography offenses after police found pictures of the teen in his possession and sexually explicit photographs of him on her cellphone.

Tuesday’s testimony came during a continuation of a hearing that started in July in which Vazquez challenged the validity of the police interrogation he claims was conducted while he was in custody and was prevented from calling the Pirates or a lawyer.

Vazquez testified police forced their way into his one-bedroom apartment at 7:40 a.m. to question him and conduct a search. He said police forced him to dress and later surrender his car keys, cellphone and laptop during a confrontational interrogation.

“I told them I needed to talk to the team and the team’s lawyer, and they said you’re not calling anyone and put the … phone down,” Vazquez testified.

He said Pennsylvania State Police investigators told him Florida police would arrest him later that day. As a result, he believed he was already in custody.

Under questioning from Assistant District Attorney Jim Lazar, Vazquez conceded he was able to sign his name while giving out autographs to fans and that he signed his first baseball contract in 2008 and came to the United States full time in 2011 to play with the Tampa Bay Rays, before later playing for Washington and Pittsburgh.

Vazquez testified he remembered specifics about a traffic stop outside of PNC Park following a game last summer but could not recall game details other than he closed out a Pirates win that night.

Vazquez also refuted police claims he confessed and denied having any personal contact with his accuser or allegations he met her outside of her Scottdale home and had sex with her in his car.

“I have never been to Scottdale,” Vazquez testified.

Trooper Michael Thompson testified to a much different version of the interrogation. He told the judge police were invited into the apartment by Vazquez, who he described as cordial and polite and did not appear afraid as he cooperated during the questioning. Thompson said Vazquez was never told he was under arrest but conceded the pitcher was not told he could ask for a lawyer.

Vazquez joked when questioned about marijuana that was found in the apartment, Thompson said.

Pennsylvania officers were aware that police from Florida were prepared to take Vazquez into custody after their interrogation, Thompson testified. But he said there were no concrete plans that day for Vazquez to be charged in Pennsylvania.

“We were still in the evidence collection mode that day. We weren’t going to arrest him,” Thompson testified.

Hours later, state police charged Vazquez with statutory sexual assault and other related charges.

In addition to the charges in Pennsylvania and Florida, Vazquez is facing pornography charges in St. Louis pertaining to allegations involving the same girl.

Vazquez has been held in custody without bail at the Westmoreland County Prison since his arrest last year.

Mears ordered lawyers to submit written legal arguments by mid-November. Vazquez’s trial will be delayed until early 2021, the judge said.

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