Hollywood star Kevin Hart has been admitted to hospital with “major back injuries” after being involved in an early morning car accident in Los Angeles.
The 40-year-old actor and comedian “was being driven in his 1970 Plymouth Barracuda on Mulholland Highway when the accident occurred”, according to the California Highway Patrol.
CNN reports that the car veered off the road in the Malibu Hills and tumbled down an embankment after the driver, identified as Jared Black, “lost control of the vehicle”. Black, 28, also sustain serious back injuries.
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A third passenger, Black’s fiancee Rebecca Broxterman, was uninjured, although the couple were both trapped inside the car following the crash. The Highway Patrol report says that Hart “left the scene to [go to] his nearby residence to get medical attention” before being taken to hospital.
The BBC reports that Hart was rushed to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, while Black was taken to another hospital.
Police have determined that Black was not under the influence of alcohol when the crash happened, shortly after midnight.
Father-of-three Hart is best known for his stand-up comedy and “roles in movies such as Little Fockers, Ride Along, Central Intelligence, The Secret Life Of Pets and Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie”, says Sky News.
He also hit headlines in December when he stepped down as host of the Oscars after it emerged that he had used homophoblic slurs in a series of tweets posted between 2009 and 2011.
Announcing his decision to withdraw from the presenting role, Hart said he “did not want to be a distraction” and was “sorry he had hurt people”.
