Rodriguez conceded that Colono was “hot-headed” and “impulsive.” The witness also confirmed that Colono had called Pring-Wilson a “motherfucker” before the fight.

Parker contended that Rodriguez and the wounded Colono fled the crime scene by car after Pring-Wilson called 911 on his cell phone.

“That’s why y’all got in the car,” Parker said. “You didn’t want to be there when the police arrived, right?”

“That is correct,” Rodriguez replied.

Rodriguez said he gave directions from the front passenger seat while his girlfriend, Giselle Abreu, drove the car.

He admitted that his “first priority was to get out of Cambridge as soon as possible.” Even after he learned that Colono had been stabbed, Rodriguez did not tell Abreu to bring the victim to nearby Mt. Auburn Hospital.

Rodriguez, a longtime Cambridge resident before moving to Lynn, Mass., was born at Mt. Auburn and said he knew the hospital was “one or two minutes away” from the Trader Joe’s lot where Abreu parked.

It wasn’t until Abreu drove into Boston that Rodriguez sought help in front of a 7-Eleven.

Outside the convenience store, Rodriguez sought to revive Colono while bystanders called for an ambulance.

“I even smacked him once,” Rodriguez said.

“I kept asking him to stay with me, to breathe,” Rodriguez said. “I kept telling him that it wasn’t his time.”

COURTROOM DRAMA

Rodriguez’s eyes welled with tears as he recounted the final moments of his cousin’s life.

The witness stared directly at Pring-Wilson during the most emotional portions of his testimony.

Rodriguez, prompted by friendly questioning from Assistant District Attorney Adrienne C. Lynch, spoke about the tense dynamic between him and Abreu on the night of the stabbing.