Actor reportedly suffered several broken ribs, injured knee.
By Jocelyn Vena

Morgan Freeman
Photo: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images
Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman, 71, was seriously injured in a car accident late Sunday night in Mississippi, a spokesperson for the Mississippi Highway Patrol told CNN.
Freeman was driving on Highway 32 with an unidentified female passenger, near Ruleville, Mississippi, when his car swerved from the road and flipped several times at 11:30 on Sunday night, according to the report; he was then airlifted to Regional Medical Center in Memphis. A hospital spokesperson said that the actor has been listed in critical condition, but police told The Associated Press that he was talking before being taken to the hospital. TMZ reported that Freeman broke several ribs and injured his knee; the condition of his passenger had not been announced at press time.
"They had to use the jaws of life to extract him from the vehicle," Clay McFerrin of Charleston, Mississippi's Sun Sentinel told AP. "He was lucid, conscious. He was talking, joking with some of the rescue workers at one point."
McFerrin arrived to the scene of the accident not long after it occurred and said bystanders were trying to get a look at the actor. When one fan tried to take a photo of the actor, he said Freeman quipped, "No freebies, no freebies!"
Freeman lives on a ranch in Mississippi with his wife, Myrna.
The actor, who won an Oscar for his role in 2004's "Million Dollar Baby," plays Lucius Fox in the summer blockbuster "Dark Knight." The film is currently in its third week at #1, racking in $394.9 million domestically.
He is set to play Nelson Mandela in "The Human Factor," which is currently in pre-production and slated to be released next year, although how Sunday's accident will affect that role remained to be seen at press time.



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