Veteran actor Morgan Freeman, who plays Lucius Fox in The Dark Knight was in a car accident Sunday night and is in serious condition. This news is 4th in a string of bad news, right on the tail of Christian Bale's assault arrest, Heath Ledger's accidental suicide, and SFX tech Conway Wickliffe's deadly truck stunt.
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Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman was injured in a car accident late Sunday night and is in a hospital in Memphis, Tenn.
Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Kathy Stringer said Freeman, 71, is in serious condition with a broken arm and shoulder. 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 confirmed Freeman was in a wreck shortly before midnight Sunday, but refused to confirm reports that Freeman fell asleep at the wheel--although drunk-driving was ruled out.
Married dad-of-three Freeman, who won a best supporting actor Oscar for 2004 film Million Dollar Baby.
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 when 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 150 miles of Memphis.
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