Freeman seriously injured in crash
12 minutes ago
Morgan Freeman is critically ill after a car crash, a US hospital has confirmed.
A spokesman for the Regional Medical Centre in Memphis, Tennessee, said the 71-year-old The Dark Knight actor's condition was "serious".
Mississippi state troopers told showbiz website TMZ.com that Freeman was involved in the crash at around 11.30pm local time on Sunday (5.30am BST), north of the small town of Ruleville. He was airlifted from the accident scene to the hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, where he is being treated.
An unidentified female passenger was also in the car and her condition was not known.
The hospital, commonly known as The Med, is an acute-care teaching facility which serves patients within 150 miles of Memphis.
Ashley Norris, manager of the Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi, which is owned by Freeman, confirmed the actor was in an accident but said she had no other details.
Clay McFerrin, editor of Sun Sentinel in Charleston, said he arrived at the accident scene on Mississippi Highway 32 soon after it happened about four miles west of Charleston, not far from where Freeman owns a home with his wife.
Mr McFerrin said it appeared that Freeman's car was airborne when it left the highway and landed in a ditch. "They had to use the jaws of life (hydraulic cutters) to extract him from the vehicle," he said. "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.
Freeman won an Oscar in 2005 for best performance by an actor in a supporting role for Million Dollar Baby.
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