SAN DIEGO -- A woman who was with former Chargers linebacker Steve Foley the night he was shot by an off-duty police officer testified Monday that she was scared and couldn't operate Foley's car after he was wounded near his Poway home.

"I didn't know if I was going to be next," a tearful Lisa Maree Gaut testified.

Gaut, 26, is charged with felony assault on a peace officer, accused of trying to run down Coronado police Officer Aaron Mansker after he shot Foley in the knee and in the hip on a cul-de-sac, a few doors down from Foley's home.

Gaut testified that she had no idea, and neither did Foley, that they were being followed by an off-duty police officer after they left a downtown San Diego nightclub last Sept. 3.

The defendant testified that Foley was shot when he got out of his car on Travertine Court and walked toward Mansker, who had parked his car at the top of the dead end with his bright lights on.

After Foley was shot, Gaut testified she told the wounded football player that she was going to turn his 1971 Oldsmobile Cutlass around to help him.

"I couldn't get it into drive to go," Gaut testified. "I couldn't understand why it wasn't going."

The defendant said she finally got the car in gear and drove straight over a curb.

She said she knew she needed to get the car in reverse, all the while being worried that "this guy's going to come over here and shoot me."

Once she backed out of a front yard, Gaut said she once again had trouble getting Foley's car into drive, continually revving the loud engine.

Mankser said he started following Foley's car around 3 a.m. when he noticed erratic driving through Balboa Park.

After exiting the freeway and driving on to Foley's cul-de-sac, Mansker testified that Gaut slid into the driver's seat of Foley's car and drove straight at him, prompting him to fire at the car.

The officer said Foley then appeared near the front of his personal, unmarked car, reached toward his waist and lifted up his shirt, prompting the officer to fire at him.

Gaut testified that she repeatedly tried to stop Foley from getting out of the car and confronting the person who was following them.

"I said, 'This guy's crazy. He's going to do something,'" the defendant testified.

She said Foley told her that he didn't know who was following their car so closely.

"It's nobody. That's what he said," Gaut testified.

Gaut faces up to five years in state prison if convicted of assault and driving under the influence.

Foley, 31, is charged with two counts of driving under the influence.

He is scheduled to stand trial May 7.