The son of reggae legend Peter Tosh has been in a coma for four months and his family has begun to worry that officials never fully informed them about exactly what occurred at Bergen County jail to cause it.
Jawara McIntosh has been unconscious since February, when he reportedly fell victim to a brutal attack by another inmate. McIntosh had been serving out a six-month sentence for marijuana possession when the beat down occurred, but has since been transferred to a Boston hospital, where he remains unresponsive and suffering from brain damage. According to his family, they've grown skeptical about authorities not being as forthcoming about the events that transpired on the day McIntosh was attacked, and will be filing a lawsuit in hopes of forcing the U.S. Justice Department to investigate.
Like his father, McIntosh is himself a musician and marijuana advocate. The elder Tosh, who has been deceased since his life was taken in a 1987 home invasion, is remembered in part for having played alongside Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer as a member of The Wailers. But he was seen to be just as, if not more, significant as a solo artist throughout the later half of the 70's and the early 80's. Loved ones and local fans of Jawara recall him showing shades of his dad in April of 2014, when he performed his 1976 classic "Legalize It" during a pro-marijuana rally outside of the New Jersey statehouse.
Like his father, McIntosh has also been known to live the Rastafarian lifestyle he talks about in his music, putting him at odds with the law in how he openly smokes as a religious sacrament. He has thus been arrested for marijuana on numerous occasions, including once in June of 2013, when he was busted with 65 pounds of the substance in the trunk of a rental car.
Source: hypelifemagazine.com, nydailynews.com,
