NEWSMorgan Freeman Injured in 'Serious' Car Crash
Aug. 4 2008, Published 5:00 a.m. ET
Morgan Freeman has been injured in a "serious" car crash.
Cops say that the 71-year-old Dark Knight star was in a one-car smash in the small town of Ruleville in Mississippi at around 11:30 last night.
The Oscar-winner was airlifted to a hospital in Memphis, Tn.
UPDATE: Freeman's rep confirms the actor broke his shoulder and his arm, but is expected to make "a good recovery."
Freeman's passenger has been identified as Demaris Meyer. The actor was driving Meyer's 1997 Nissan Maxima eastbound on Highway 32 when he ran off the edge of the road and flipped the car. Authorities say both were wearing their seat belts.
According to the AP, when a passerby whipped out a cell phone at the scene of the crash and tried to snap a picture, Freeman joked, "No freebies, no freebies."
Clay McFerrin, editor of Sun Sentinel in Charleston, said he arrived at the accident scene on Mississippi Highway 32 soon after it happened about 5 miles west of Charleston, not far from where Freeman owns a home with his wife.
''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.''
Want OK! each day? Sign up here!
Cops say alcohol does not appear to have been a factor in the crash. There's no word yet on the condition of Freeman's passenger.
