Former Nets star Jayson Williams injured in NYC car crash

Jayson Williams suffered lacerations to the head in an accident involving his BMW SUV near an exit of the FDR Drive last night in Manhattan.

The crash occurred at E. 18th Street and Avenue C at around 3:15 am Tuesday. Police say Williams refused to submit to a field sobriety test at the scene. Williams could face charges for the refusal, a police spokesperson has said. Witnesses also say Williams moved to the passenger side of the vehicle despite the fact that he was alone. The former Nets star was taken to Bellevue and was being treated Tuesday morning.

Williams has had a large share of legal troubles over the past few years. In December, his lawyers asked a judge to allow them to withdraw from an ongoing reckless manslaughter case in the shooting death of Williams’ driver Costas “Gus” Christofi at the player’s home in New Jersey. (Williams was previously acquitted on related charges stemming from the incident.) Lawyers cited lack of trust in their client, but Williams blamed his grief following the November death of his father:

“Nov. 10 changed my life, and I wasn’t thinking straight,” Williams said, adding he has been hard to reach, but not impossible. “I don’t think that our trust is broken.”

Williams settled with Christofi’s family in a civil suit for $2.75m. In April of last year, Williams was taken into custody over an incident in a Battery Park hotel room in which he allegedly became violent- police said pills and suicide notes were found at the scene. In May, he was arrested for punching a man in a North Carolina bar, but those charges were later dropped.