That's how long it took an off-duty police officer to follow Chargers linebacker Steve Foley for several miles to a Poway cul-de-sac where he shot and wounded the football player.

During a two-week trial, the officer and Lisa Maree Gaut – Foley's companion that morning – gave diverging accounts of what happened during those 24 minutes.

Matters of dispute included whether Officer Aaron Mansker acted appropriately when he suspected Foley of drunken driving, and whether Gaut was acting “heroically” when she drove Foley's car.

But the crux of the issue, according to the lawyers, is whether Gaut and Foley knew Mansker was a police officer.

“They knew,” prosecutor James Koerber told a San Diego Superior Court jury Wednesday. “They didn't want to believe their bad luck.”

Gaut, 26, is accused of trying to run down the Coronado police officer during a confrontation the morning of Sept. 3. She faces felony and misdemeanor charges including assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer and drunken driving.

If convicted, she could be sent to prison for up to five years.

Defense attorney Raymond Vecchio stressed during his closing arguments Wednesday that Mansker was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt and driving his own black Mazda the morning of the shooting. Vecchio questioned the officer's testimony that he repeatedly identified himself as a police officer and gave Foley and Gaut several direct commands.

“We don't know whether he actually made those commands or not,” Vecchio said. “We do know that he didn't show his badge.”

Mansker, 24, testified earlier that he was driving home from work shortly after 3 a.m. when he saw Foley's 1971 Oldsmobile Cutlass driving erratically along state Route 163. He said he radioed a dispatcher to ask for assistance and was told a California Highway Patrol officer was responding.

Mansker said continued to follow the Oldsmobile when it got off Interstate 15 at Pomerado Road. He said he decided to make contact with the driver when he saw sparks coming from underneath the car.

Mansker testified he contacted Foley and Gaut during several stops along the road, but they repeately ignored his commands. When Foley stopped his car near his home at the bottom of Travertine Court, the officer said he decided to give up and drive off, but soon realized he had driven into a cul-de-sac.

He turned around, he said, and saw Foley walking up the hill with Gaut – now behind the wheel of the Oldsmobile – following slowly behind.

Mansker said he fired a warning shot to get the pair to stop, but instead Gaut drove the car straight at the officer. He fired at the hood of the Oldsmobile and it passed behind him, before crashing into a curb.

Mansker said Foley continued to approach and reached for his waistband, as if for a gun. The officer fired at Foley, hitting him in the left knee and hip. Another bullet apparently grazed his hand, according to the testimony.

Foley was unarmed.

Koerber argued that Mansker acted according to his training the morning of the shooting and gave a truthful account of what happened during the 24-minute recording to dispatchers and later during an interview with sheriff's investigators.

The prosecutor said Foley and Gaut didn't want to acknowledge they were being followed and contacted by a police officer because both of them had been drinking earlier at a downtown bar. Foley's blood-alcohol level was measured at .16 percent a few hours after after the shooting.

Gaut's blood alcohol level was measured at 0.15.

However, Vecchio contended that the officer was “overzealous” and quick to pull a gun when he knew uniformed officers were on their way. He also argued that Gaut never intended to run down Mansker and was only trying to come to Foley's aid after he had been shot.

“For her good deed she got arrested,” Vecchio said. “No good deed goes unpunished.”

The jury is scheduled to begin deliberations Thursday.

 Dana Littlefield: (619) 542-4590; dana.littlefield@uniontrib.com