Articles | Freeman 'jovial' after car crash

Freeman 'jovial' after car crash

Published: Tuesday, 5 August 2008, 7:57AM

Morgan Freeman is in "good spirits" in hospital after breaking his arm and elbow in a car crash, according to his spokeswoman

The Oscar-winning actor was airlifted to the Regional Medical Centre in Memphis, Tennessee, where his condition was described as "serious" following the late-night crash on a highway in rural Mississippi.

His publicist, Donna Lee, said: "Morgan has a broken arm, broken elbow and minor shoulder damage, but is in good spirits"

Highway Patrol spokesman Sergeant Ben Williams said Freeman was driving a 1997 Nissan Maxima which belonged to a woman called Demaris Meyer, of Memphis, when the car left a rural highway and overturned several times.

Mr Williams said: "There's no indication that either alcohol or drugs were involved."

He added that both Freeman and Ms Meyer were wearing seatbelts.

There was still no information on Ms Meyer's condition, he said.

The crash happened north of the small town of Ruleville in rural Tallahatchie County in the Mississippi Delta.

Freeman was airlifted from the accident scene to the hospital, around 90 miles away in Memphis, Tennessee, where he is being treated.

The editor of a local newspaper, Clay McFerrin, said he arrived at the crash scene and witnessed Freeman's car going airborne before landing in the ditch.

He said: "They had to use the jaws of life (hydraulic cutters) to extract him from the vehicle.

"He was lucid, conscious. He was talking, joking with some of the rescue workers at one point."

Mr McFerrin said bystanders converged on the scene trying to get a glimpse of the actor.

He added that when one person tried to take a photo with a mobile phone camera, Freeman said: "No freebies, no freebies."

Freeman, who won an Oscar in 2005 for his role in Million Dollar Baby, lives near Charleston with his wife, Myrna, on a 126-acre ranch with a main house, peach trees and horse stables.