Actor Morgan Freeman Breaks Arm In Car Crash Freeman Reported To Be In “Good Spirits” After Being Airlifted To Hospital After Flipping Car In Tennessee

Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman, who is hospitalized in Memphis, Tenn., is expected to be OK after being injured in a car accident in Mississippi on Monday. ”He has a broken arm, broken elbow and minor shoulder damage but he is in good spirits,” Freeman’s rep, Donna Lee, said in a statement Monday afternoon, according to People. “He is going to have surgery this afternoon or tomorrow to correct the damage. He says he’ll be OK and is looking forward to a full recovery.”

In addition, the Associated Press reported that a business partner also said that Freeman suffered a broken arm and other injuries.

Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Kathy Stringer stated earlier that Freeman, 71, was in serious condition. The hospital is about 90 miles north of the accident scene in rural Tallahatchie County in the Mississippi Delta.

Mississippi Highway Patrol spokesman Sgt. Ben Williams said Freeman was driving a 1997 Nissan Maxima belonging to Demaris Meyer of Memphis when the car left a rural highway and flipped several times shortly before midnight Sunday.

“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 airlifted to the hospital in Tennessee.

Clay McFerrin, editor of Sun Sentinel in Charleston, said he arrived at the accident scene on Mississippi Highway 32 soon after it happened about 4 miles west of Charleston, not far from where Freeman owns a home with his wife.

McFerrin said it appeared that Freeman’s car was airborne went it left the highway and landed in a ditch.

The WREG-TV Web site reports Freeman may have fallen asleep at the wheel.

“They had to use the jaws of life to extract him from the vehicle,” McFerrin said. “He was lucid, conscious. He was talking, joking with some of the rescue workers at one point.”

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

When one person tried to snap a photo with a cell phone camera, Freeman joked, “no freebies, no freebies,” McFerrin said.

“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. 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.

The popular actor, with his commanding voice and calm demeanor, has grown into one of the most respected figures in modern cinema. He is currently appearing in the blockbuster film “The Dark Knight,” the latest in the Batman series.

Freeman won his Oscar for his supporting role in 2005’s “Million Dollar Baby.” He was also nominated for his roles in “The Shawshank Redemption” (1994), “Driving Miss Daisy” (1989) and “Street Smart” (1987).

He 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, Miss.

Source: AP/CBS