SIDELINES : Change in Martin Crash Story?

Detroit bar owner William Reedy reportedly says Billy Martin--not he--was driving the pickup truck that crashed Christmas Day, killing the feisty former baseball manager.

Reedy reportedly told the Detroit Free Press that he lied and told police that he was driving to protect his friend, who he didn’t realize was fatally injured.

Interviewed later by the Detroit News, however, Reedy denied making those statements to the rival Free Press.

“I thought he was knocked out,” Reedy, who suffered a broken hip in the wreck at Martin’s rural Binghamton, N.Y., farm, reportedly told the Free Press in an article published today. “I’m going to plead not guilty to driving while intoxicated, or even to driving.

“I told them I was driving to try to protect Billy,” Reedy reportedly said in an interview at Reedy’s Saloon near Tiger Stadium. “We’ve been friends for 20, 25 years, and Billy had put up with a lot of stuff from (New York Yankees owner) George Steinbrenner.”

He denied that he and the five-time New York Yankees manager were drunk, but reportedly said, “We both had drinks.”

Reedy’s story changed when the Detroit News contacted him for an article also published today. “I never told (the Free Press) that,” Reedy said. “It’s crazy. That’s the reason the attorney told me not to make any statements. I’m not going to say anything. I’m not going to make any statement.”

Tuesday in Binghamton, a prosecutor said Reedy will be charged only with driving while intoxicated when Martin’s truck slid into a culvert at the end of his driveway.