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Man pepper-sprayed after car strikes him (http://nydailynews.com/front/story/313839p-268397c.html)

By LEO STANDORA
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

A mad motorist forced a Manhattan musician to leap out of the way of his speeding car in Tribeca yesterday - and then pepper-sprayed the man when he tried to take down the license plate, police said.

The wild-eyed driver sped away after the incident, adding an ugly twist to the hit-and-run scourge that has taken the lives of 18 pedestrians this year.

"It was terrible and unbelievable," said Robert Turley, as he nursed his badly banged-up knees, which were injured when he fell onto the pavement at Thomas St. and W. Broadway.

"I didn't do a thing to the guy," Turley said. "I was just minding my own business and he tried to run me down. He seemed to be in a rage, really angry."

Turley, a musician and record producer, said he was headed to jury duty at Manhattan Supreme Court at 10 a.m. when the dark station wagon came straight at him on W. Broadway.

"I was between the white lines, I had the light and I was walking at a good pace," he said. "But none of that mattered to the guy in the car."

"He came off Thomas straight at me, accelerating and yelling, 'Move it, get out of the way!'"

Turley jumped back, but the car grazed him and he fell hard to the ground. The motorist stopped and immediately showered him with curses.

"I couldn't let him get away with it so I started taking down his plate number on a magazine," Turley said. "That's when he leaned out of the car, pepper-sprayed me and drove off."

A store owner and other witnesses waited with the temporarily blinded musician until an ambulance and cops arrived.

Police were searching for the hit-and-run driver yesterday.

Turley acknowledged: "It could have been worse. My dad lost a leg to a hit-and-run driver."