Morgan Freeman injured in car accident, critical

Mississippi Highway Patrol spokesman Sgt Ben Williams confirmed Freeman was in a wreck shortly before midnight last night, but said he was still gathering information and had few details.

Clay McFerrin, editor of Sun Sentinel in Charleston, said he arrived at the accident scene after it happened about 6.44 kilometers 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.

“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.

The hospital where Freeman is being treated is commonly known as The Med, and is an acute-care teaching facility that serves patients within 241 kilometers of Memphis.

Freeman, who has had roles in dozens of films, won a best supporting actor Oscar for the 2004 film, Million Dollar Baby, and appears in the current Batman hit, The Dark Knight.