A trucker says he didn't mean to smash into hip-hop artist Styles P and says he's deeply sorry for the rapper's broken leg.

"The judge put a restraining order on me or I would have contacted him to apologize," John Henson said yesterday following his brief appearance in Town Court.

The road-rage confrontation occurred in the afternoon Dec. 23 on Saw Mill River Road. The rapper, a 32-year-old Cortlandt resident whose real name is David Styles, told police his 2003 Mercedes-Benz was cut off by the truck at Fairview Park Drive. He said he then cut off the truck, got out and threw napkins at the window. As he was getting back in his car, the truck smashed the car, door and then him.

Henson, of Waterbury, Conn., said the crash was an accident and that he was merely trying to drive away after Styles threw what he described as a box of tissues. He said Styles was screaming and was reaching into his coat.

"I didn't know if he had a gun or something else he was going to throw at me," Henson said. "I feared for my safety, so I tried to get around him on the left side. I guess I was a foot off. I was all shook up."

Prior to the crash, he had never heard of Styles P.

"I don't listen to rap too much, but I do have respect for those people," he said.

After spending Christmas in jail, Henson, a divorced father of five, posted $1,500 bail. Exiting the court yesterday, he frowned and said this incident is causing him great hardship. He says his trucking company suspended him and that he's in jeopardy of losing his house because he can't keep up with the mortgage.

He's due back in court on Jan. 26.