Broward County native Sean Kingston was critically injured early yesterday evening in a Jet-Ski accident near Miami Beach, the Miami Herald first reported yesterday evening. According to authorities, the 21-year-old "Beautiful Girls" singer was riding a Jet-Ski with a female passenger between Palm and Hibiscus Islands near South Beach.
Around 6 p.m., he lost control and crashed into the bridge leading to Palm Island, throwing both himself and the passenger into the water. A passing boater witnessed the accident and took the two onto his craft until authorities arrived to take him to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital.
However, despite persistent rumors late last night on Twitter, Kingston did not die in the accident. Details of his condition remain murky, though. His publicist issued a statement to Billboard: "Sean Kingston was in a accident today. No further details are available at the moment. He and his family thank everyone for the well wishes."
Meanwhile, a representative for Kingston's label, Epic Records, told the Associated Press the singer "was now stabilized."
Kingston, born Kisean Anderson, first scored major pop success in 2007 with his self-titled debut solo album, and it's been two years since the follow-up, Tomorrow. As such, he had been gearing up with a series of street releases, starting with the mixtape King of Kingz, released this past February. Also reportedly in the works was another mixtape due out June 15, which was to include a freestyle over Wiz Khalifa's "Roll Up" as well as a joint effort disc with pal Justin Bieber.
Back in 2008, Jonathan Cunningham, then the music editor for New Times Broward-Palm Beach, traced Kingston's early rise to fame, from his days as a class clown at Congress Middle School in Boynton Beach. Read the story here.
