Rapper Cassidy Remains Hospitalized

The rapper Cassidy was reportedly in critical condition at a New Jersey hospital following a car crash last week.

The 24-year-old Philadelphia artist, whose real name is Barry Reese, was a passenger in a sport utility vehicle that collided with another vehicle in Jersey City on Oct. 5, according to Sgt. Edgar Martinez, a police spokesman.

Cassidy was in critical condition at Jersey City Medical Center, The Jersey Journal of Jersey City reported in Tuesday's newspapers. A hospital spokeswoman did not immediately return a call Tuesday seeking information on his condition.

"He has multiple fractures of his face," his lawyer, Simon Rosen, said Friday. "He has a nasty scar from his ear to the corner of his mouth. He's on sedation to keep him from moving, and to keep him out of pain.

"It's scary looking, but he's a very strong young man," said Rosen, who did not immediately return calls Tuesday. "He's a fighter. He'll come through this."

Jersey City police issued a summons for making an improper turn to the driver of the vehicle that collided with Cassidy's vehicle, Javier Trujillo Gonzalez, 36, of Carson City, Mich.

All five people involved in the crash were taken to local hospitals, but only Cassidy sustained serious injuries, Rosen said.

The rapper was heading to a recording studio in New York to work on an upcoming album when the crash occurred, his lawyer said.

Cassidy was recently released from prison following his January conviction on charges of involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault in what Philadelphia prosecutors called the planned ambush of a man who had argued with the musician's friends.

A judge ruled that Cassidy was grossly negligent for supplying the guns that killed Desmond Hawkins and wounded two of his companions.