1:45 p.m. Update - Freeman's Injuries Revealed, Also Identity of Passenger in Car
By: MSNBC, CNN, RNS
Updated: August 4, 2008
New information is coming in about the Mississippi car crash that seriously injured Academy Award winning actor Morgan Freeman.
Officers with the Mississippi Highway Patrol have released the identity of the female passenger in actor Morgan Freeman's car.
Freeman, 71, is in serious condition at the Memphis Regional Medical Center after the one-vehicle accident near his Mississippi home last night.
The Memphis native suffered a broken arm and a broken shoulder in the crash.
His passenger has been identified as Demaris Meyer of Memphis. She was also taken to The Med, although a hospital spokeswoman says there's nobody there under that name. There's no word yet on her relationship to "The Dark Night" actor.
Freeman's car ran off the road late last night and flipped over several times before landing in a ditch. Police believe he may have fallen asleep at the wheel. They had to use the jaws of life to remove him from the car. Freeman was then airlifted to The Med.
Police report that Freeman was driving eastbound on Highway 32 near the town of Ruleville, Miss, around 11:30 p.m. when his car left the road.
TMZ.com is reporting that state troopers said Freeman was talking at the scene of the accident and that a friend of the actor's said Freeman was sitting up and talking at the hospital.
NBC affilliate WMC of Memphis reported that Freeman's car accident was in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, about 100 miles south of Memphis.
Freeman won an Academy Award for best supporting actor in 2005 for his role in the gritty boxing film "Million Dollar Baby." He has been nominated for Oscars three other times, for the movies "Street Smart," "Driving Miss Daisy" and "The Shawshank Redemption."
He's currently starring in two successful summer films, the hitman drama "Wanted" and the blockbuster "The Dark Knight."
He recently starred on Broadway in a production of the Clifford Odets play "The Country Girl."
Freeman was born in Memphis and spent part of his childhood in Mississippi. He owns a club, the Ground Zero Blues Club, in Clarksdale, Mississippi.
In a 2005 interview with CNN, he said returning to the area was "one of the smartest moves I've made in life."
