Jayson Williams Slightly Hurt in Car Accident

Jayson Williams, the former star with the New Jersey Nets, was slightly injured on Tuesday morning when the sport utility vehicle he was driving struck a tree in the Manhattan, the police said.

Mr. Williams refused to submit to a sobriety test that officers tried to administer at the crash site, at East 18th Street near Avenue C, the police said. As a result, he faces a possible criminal charge, a police official said.

The crash occurred about 3:15 a.m., the police said, near an exit of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive in Lower Manhattan. Mr. Williams suffered a laceration to his head and was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center, the police said. He was being treated at the hospital Tuesday morning.

The precise circumstances of the crash were not immediately clear, though investigators believe Mr. Williams was driving the black Mercedes-Benz sport utility vehicle, the police said.

Mr. Williams has withstood a flurry of legal troubles stemming from the shooting death of a limousine driver in his home in New Jersey, for which he was arrested and tried. He faces a retrial on a charge of reckless manslaughter in that case, officials have said.