CONTROVERSIAL dancehall DJ Desmond Ballentine, better known as ‘Ninja Man’, was yesterday hospitalised following a motor vehicle accident in Trench Town, Kingston, while he was on his way to court to answer a shooting charge.

Hospital sources said his condition was not considered serious.

The Trench Town police reported that the DJ’s Toyota Rav 4 ended up in a gully after it collided with a taxi at about 11:15 yesterday morning.

Ninja Man, the police said, was attempting to overtake the Toyota Corolla taxi when the driver, Everton Brown, attempted to make a right turn onto Fifth Street. The Rav 4, the police said, hit the right front fender of the car, lost control and overturned into the gully.

The DJ, who was in an unconscious state, was removed from the vehicle and taken to the Kingston Public Hospital where he was admitted.

Granville “Luddie” Masters, who said he took Ninja Man from the wreckage and sent him to the hospital, told the Observer that the DJ was driving at a moderate speed, and charged that the taxi turned suddenly onto Fifth Street, causing Ninja Man to collide with the car.

Ninja Man, speaking to the Observer from his hospital bed at the Kingston Public Hospital, said he was on his way from St Mary to answer a gun shooting charge at the Home Circuit Court in Kingston, and drove through Trench Town to make up time.

“Me did kinda late and me drive through Trench Town fe make up time. Me dey pon me phone a call dem sey me late but me still a come. Same time a taximan a drive in front a me suddenly turn right and me a try fe get way from him now, crash ina him right side and me go right over the gully. Me no know wha happen to me again till me a talk to you now ina hospital,” he said.

Just four weeks ago another popular dancehall entertainer, Beenie Man, was hospitalised with a punctured lung and fractured ribs after his $14-million Hummer 2 fell into a ditch along the Mandela Highway, St Catherine. He has since been released from hospital.