An accused cop killer testified yesterday that he was working as an NYPD informant to help get guns off the streets when he was unwittingly caught up in the shooting death of rookie officer Russel Timoshenko.
Lee Woods, 30, testified he had met up with two pals to buy and resell guns on the night of July 8, 2007, with the intention of tipping off detectives in the 101st Precinct in Queens, for whom he had done work in the past.
Instead, Woods was allegedly behind the wheel of a BMW in Brooklyn early the next morning when Dexter Bostick, 36, and Robert Ellis, 35, opened fire on two cops who had pulled them over, killing Timoshenko and wounding partner Herman Yan.
Woods claimed he was ordered at gunpoint to drive.
Today, a separate jury is set to begin deliberations in the trial of Ellis, who claims he was the one driving the BMW at the time of the shooting and had no idea guns were in the car.