SAN DIEGO -- A woman who was with Steve Foley the night the former Chargers linebacker was shot by an off-duty officer acted "heroically," her attorney told a jury Wednesday, but a prosecutor said the defendant tried to run the officer down.

During closing arguments in the trial of Lisa Maree Gaut, attorney Raymond Vecchio said his client "didn't do anything wrong" and was Foley's passenger last Sept. 3, when Coronado police Officer Aaron Mansker began tailing the car because he suspected the motorist of drunken driving.

Gaut, 26, is charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury and assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, and two misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence.

As the two cars arrived in front of Foley's home about 3:30 a.m., Mansker shot Foley in the knee and hip when the athlete allegedly refused orders to stop and reached into his waistband.

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.

Foley apparently thought he was being followed by a fan or would-be carjacker, sheriff's homicide Detective Thomas Ness testified previously at a hearing in the case against Foley.

Gaut testified that Foley was shot when he got out of his car on Travertine Court and walked toward Mansker. After Foley was wounded, Gaut told him she was going to turn his custom car around to help him, she testified.

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 again had trouble getting Foley's car into drive, continually revving the loud engine.

Sheriff's deputies responding to the scene pulled Gaut out of the car.

"She acted heroically. She acted selflessly," Vecchio told the jury. "She never had any intention to drive."

Vecchio said Mansker was an inexperienced "overzealous" officer who made a number of inappropriate decisions, including failing to show his badge.

"He has to be held accountable for his conduct," the defense attorney said.

But Deputy District Attorney James Koerber said Mansker, who was in his personal vehicle, did what he was trained to do when he spotted Foley driving erratically on northbound state Route 163.

Koerber said Mansker called dispatchers and kept waiting for help to arrive, but continued following Foley's 1971 Oldsmobile Cutlass in the meantime.

The prosecutor said Mansker shot at Gaut when she drove Foley's car directly at him when Foley got out to walk toward the officer near Foley's Poway home.

Both Foley and Gaut knew or reasonably should have known that Mansker was a police officer, but didn't want to believe it, Koerber told the jury.

"(Mansker's) actions were lawful that day," the prosecutor said. "The evidence corroborates what Officer Mansker said happened."

Koerber said Gaut drove Foley's car toward the officer so she could get away, knowing there was a warrant out for her arrest on an outstanding receipt of stolen property case from another county.

The prosecutor said Gaut's testimony was made to fit whatever version she thought could get her off.

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.

Mansker said he started following Foley's car around 3 a.m. when he noticed it being driven erratically through Balboa Park.

He testified that after he exited the freeway and drove onto Foley's cul-de-sac, Gaut slid into the driver's seat of the Cutlass and drove straight at him, prompting him to fire at the car.

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

Jury deliberations will begin Thursday. Gaut faces up to five years in state prison if convicted.

Foley, 31, who was cut from the Chargers roster around the end of last season, is scheduled to stand trial May 7 on two counts of driving under the influence.