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Pedestrian Struck on the Lower East Side

By Jill Colvin | April 20, 2012 10:50am

LOWER EAST SIDE — A pedestrian was struck and injured by a car on the Lower East Side Thursday night, officials and witnesses said.

The man was crossing East Broadway at Clinton Street about 9:30 p.m. when a burgundy pickup hit him, officials and witnesses said.

"I heard the bang,” said one eyewitness, who was stopped in her car at the intersection.

"I saw him coming and, bingo, the guy just kind of walked into his vehicle,” she said, adding that the impact was nonetheless strong enough to knock a blue baseball cap off his head.

Another witness heard the impact from down the block.

"I've never heard something like that,” said the long-time local resident, who was parking his car up the block. “I mean, it didn't sound like a person. I thought it was an object."

An FDNY spokesman said the victim, who was in his 40s, was taken to Bellevue Hospital with head trauma, but had no information on his condition. But witnesses and police at the scene said the injury did not seem life-threatening.

"Trust me, he didn't get hit that hard,” said the female eyewitness. “His head was up. He was bleeding, but it wasn't a lot of blood.”

The NYPD did not have any information on the accident.

Leland Truick, 50, the driver of the pickup, said he was turning left onto East Broadway just as a yellow cab was going in the same direction. That's when the truck hit the pedestrian, he said.

"The next thing I knew, he was on top of my hood," said Truick, who had been on his way home to the Brooklyn from work.

He said he immediately got out of his car, called police and waited by the victim's side.

Truick claimed that he, too, had once been hit and critically injured by a vehicle — which later fled the scene — and good Samaritans rushed to his aid.

"I was a hit and run. I had a cracked skull. I had internal bleeding," he said. "People helped me. I didn't want to be that person."

It was unclear if he was immediately charged or issued any summonses.