Reggae superstar Barrington Levy is lucky to be alive after he got sideswiped by a truck last night while travelling in his Nissan van.
The accident occurred at about 7:30 p.m at the intersection of Washington Boulevard and Weymouth Drive in the Corporate Area. The 1996 van was smashed during the accident, and rendered inoperable. Police officers had to get a tow truck to move it from the scene.
However, Barrington Levy emerged from the accident with only minor injuries including a throbbing pain in his shoulder.
He explained how the accident happened.
“I was going through the stoplight on green when a truck run the red light and slammed into the left side of the van, tear off the front bumper and everything. The van mash up terrible. Then the worse part is that the truck man never stop, him just drive gone bout him business, is somebody tell me that truck always over Riverton, but I didn’t get any licence plate or anything,” he said.
“I was out there at the intersection on Boulevard for a few hours before I got assistance from the police, luckily I wasn’t badly injured, right now, my shoulder is hurting me and I am going to the doctor later. Two different police car passed me and did not stop to offer any assistance, I was surprised, Jamaica is not a First World country but we have decent people here. I had to call my friend ‘Chicken’ who called the officer ‘Husk’ and 90 minutes later, a police car turn up,” he said.
The vehicle was then towed to a nearby garage in Maxfield Avenue. He made a report the following day at the Duhaney Park police station.
“I have a terrible pain in my shoulder, but I am going to the doctor tomorrow for a complete check up,” Mr. Levy said.
The 49 year-old Levy is known for songs such as the 1998 monster hit Living Dangerously, the 1990 hit ‘Bad Boy’ alongside American rapper Shyne. In 2010 Grammy-winning group Black Eyed Peas sampled his song Here I Come. Barrington Levy has racked up over 3 million hits on youtube with his crossover hit, Here I Come (Broadway).
Levy first made his mark as a teenaged singer in the late 1970s with producer Henry ‘Junjo’ Lawes’ Volcano Records. Huge hit songs such as ‘Collie Weed’, ‘Prison Oval Rock’ and 21 Girl Salute were some of the hits he did with the flamboyant Lawes and the Roots Radics Band at the Channel One studio in Kingston.
