: JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman was hospitalized in serious condition Monday after the car he was driving left a rural road in the Mississippi Delta and flipped several times.
Freeman, 71, was airlifted to the Regional Medical Center in Memphis, Tenn., about 90 miles north of the accident in rural Tallahatchie County.
The actor "has a broken arm, broken elbow and minor shoulder damage, but is in good spirits," according to a statement from Donna Lee, Freeman's publicist. A hospital spokeswoman said Freeman was in serious condition but would not discuss his injuries.
"He is having a little bit of surgery this afternoon or tomorrow to help correct the damage," Lee's statement said. "He says he'll be OK and is looking forward to a full recovery."
Freeman, who won an Oscar for his role in "Million Dollar Baby," is among the stars in "The Dark Knight," now in theaters. His screen credits also include "Driving Miss Daisy."
Freeman and a companion were traveling on a dark, two-lane highway that cuts through the expansive farmlands of the Mississippi Delta when the car ran off the side of the road shortly before midnight Sunday, authorities said. The vehicle flipped several times but landed upright in a ditch alongside Mississippi Highway 32, about 5 miles west of Charleston, not far from where Freeman owns a home with his wife.
Mississippi Highway Patrol spokesman Sgt. Ben Williams said rescuers had to use the jaws of life to remove Freeman from the car.
"He was lucid, conscious. He was talking, joking with some of the rescue workers at one point," said Clay McFerrin, editor of Sun Sentinel in Charleston, who arrived at the scene soon after the accident happened.
McFerrin said it appeared Freeman's car was airborne when it left the highway.
Bystanders converged on the accident scene trying to get a glimpse of the actor, McFerrin said.
When one person tried to snap a photo with a cell phone camera, Freeman joked, "no freebies, no freebies," McFerrin said.
Williams said Freeman was driving a 1997 Nissan Maxima that belonged to Demaris Meyer of Memphis.
"There's no indication that either alcohol or drugs were involved," Williams said. He said both Freeman and Meyer were wearing seat belts. The woman's condition was not immediately available.
Freeman was born in Memphis, Tenn., but spent much of his childhood in the Mississippi Delta. He is a co-owner of the Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale.
"I'm definitely concerned," country singer and fellow Mississippian Steve Azar, whose video for his hit "Waitin' on Joe" featured Freeman, said Monday. The two have also worked charity events together. "He's been the best ambassador our state has ever had."
"He could live anywhere in the world and he came back home," Azar said. "I just think it shows a lot about him as a person and how grounded he is."
The hospital where Freeman is being treated is commonly known as The Med, and is an acute-care teaching facility that serves patients within 150 miles of Memphis.
This morning they said the female passenger is a friend of his wife's. She wasn't familiar with the country roads so Morgan was driving her car back to his home. Last report was he came thru surgery and was talking to his family.
All media reports said an unidentified female was his passenger. Well now she's been identified.
MTO GOT THIS STORY FROM YAHOO'S HOME PAGE FROM YESTERDAY....SO WHO IS COPYING OFF OF WHO??? YALL FULL OF ***!!!!fakesmile---I FEEL SORRY FOR YOU.....JUST BECAUSE HE IS A MOVIE STAR DOESN'T MEAN HE HAS TO GO OUT IN GET THA FLASHIEST ***. THATS *** PROBLEM NOW. I APPLAUDE HIM FOR BEING CONTENT ENOUGH TO GET AN ORDINARY RIDE. THATS WHY *** STAY BROKE THEY SO *** WORRIED ABOUT GETTING RIDES THATS GONNA GET THEM ATTENTION AND NOT ALL THE ATTENTION IS GOOD ATTENTION. AND MOST WHO DO THAT *** BE TOSSIN AND TURNING WORRYING ABOUT HOW THEY GONNA PAY THEIR *** NOTE EVER MONTH. GET YA *** PRIORITIES TOGETHER. WE CAN'T BE DUMB NUCCAS OUR WHOLE *** LIFE.
Chicken80-you ugly fat *** ***. lol!!! remove that pic off your avatar. to your g.e.d. getting *** i can read perfectly. How far did you get in school? Who tha *** wuz talkin to yo' *** in those last season clothes? Let me re- explain myself to your dumb *** I understand it is slow people in the world who process info. a little more differetly. It doesn't matter who he was in the car with. It had the name in the article and ever one assumed it was a side chic versus it being a family member which has nothing to do with the man being injured.*** i read quite well i have a bachelor's degree working on my masters and work on research papers on a regular basis. *** don't try or attempt to pull my card when it aint *** to pull. So before you open up yo trap when your insight on the matter wasn't ask get yo *** together tha next time you try to step to me. Hint from the wise: change yo username cuz it makes black people look bad even tho you look like yo fat *** has eaten every bird known to man and get rid of those curly braids that have been played out since 2005 before you "attempt" to step to a sista with some class. P.S. When I obtain my Masters in Education I will throw a business card your way becuz you can tell that yo *** is truly lacking the empowerment of what an education brings. You are a perfect example of a child who has fell behind in the concept of "No Child Left Behind". LOL!!! P.S. THEN YOU DUMB BYTCH MAKE SURE YOU POST YOUR COMMENT TTO THE RIGHT TOPIC AT HAND THIS TOPIC DOES NOT HAVE *** TO DO WITH YOUR RESPONSE. ANOTHER PERFERCT EXAMPLE OF A DUMB *** *** TRYNA COME ON HERE WITH VERY LITTLE INTELLIGENCE.
@NOTLOOKINGBACK I GUESS YOU TOLD ME HUH? HEN MAY YOUR STUPID *** NEED TO GO BACK & READ THE COMMENT YOU MADE. I'M ONLY RESPONDING TO WHAT YOU SAID WHICH HAD NOTHING TO WITH WHAT YOU WERE SPEAKING. I GUESS THEY GIVE MASTER DEGREES AT WAL-MART NOW. ITS VERY OBVIOUS THAT U DON'T READ TO WELL. YOUR DUMB *** COMMENT DIDN'T HAVE NOTHING TO WITH THE STORY, SO WHO IS THE DUMB ***? FIRST & FUTHERMORE I CAN COMMENT BACK TO WHOEVER I WANT, I FELT YOUR COMMENT DESERVED A RESPONSE BACK. YOU SNAPPING ON PEOPLE BECAUSE YOU FEEL THEY SAID SOMETHING ABOUT THE CAR HE WAS DRIVING WHICH WASN'T HIS, IT BELONGS TO THE WOMAN THAT WAS IN THE CAR. I'M ALL FOR A FAMILY MAN, BUT YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW IF HE WAS HAVING AN AFFAIR WITH THE WOMAN. PLUS HIS WIFE FILED FOR A DIVORCE LONG BEFORE THE CAR WRECK.
THE COMMENT ABOUT MY GRANDMOTHER'S DRESS WASN'T NECESSARY. MY GRANDMOTHERS DIED BACK IN 99 & 2002 & I WASN'T THERE I WAS OFF SERVING THIS COUNTRY SO U CAN RUN AROUND & TALK ABOUT PEOPLE'S GRANDPARENTS. THEN STILL GOES TO SHOW HOW DUMB YOU ARE ITS A DRESS & THERE IS NOTHING FAT ABOUT ME.
SO NOW YOU MAKE SURE YOU MAKE A COMMENT ABOUT THE TOPIC AT HAND. PLUS TO SAY YOU HAVE CLASS, TO SIT HERE & CALL ME A B!%CH, TO TALK ABOUT MY GRANDMOTHER, CALL ME FAT, THAT SHOWS A LOT OF CLASS.
