Freeman Unconscious When Found

Witnesses say rural highway was rain-slicked

The Mississippi man who rushed to Morgan Freeman's crashed car says the Oscar winner was knocked unconscious when the sedan he was driving flipped several times on a rain-slicked road. "I was watching TV, and I heard the skid," Bill Rogers, 53, of Charleston, told Memphis' Commercial Appeal newspaper. "I looked out the window and saw the car flipping head over end." After grabbing a flashlight, Rogers said he rushed over to the crashed car on Sunday night. Rogers told the Commercial Appeal that he immediately recognized Freeman, who lives in nearby Charleston. The actor and his passenger, Demaris Meyer, 48, of Memphis, were unconscious, Rogers said. Rogers ran back to his house off the rural highway in Tallahatchie County in the Mississippi Delta and called 911. When he returned to the wrecked Nissan Maxima, both Freeman and Meyer were conscious, but Freeman "wasn't totally coherent." Freeman, 71, had to be cut out of his car by the jaws of life. He was airlifted to Regional Medical Center in Memphis where he was in serious condition. He suffered a broken arm and underwent surgery Monday, officials said. Neighbors told the Commercial Appeal that the two-lane road where Freeman crashed was slick from a heavy rain. Though he was born in Memphis, Tenn., Freeman spent much of his childhood in the Mississippi Delta. Freeman, beloved for his Oscar-winning turn in "Million Dollar Baby" and memorable performances in "The Shawshank Redemption," ''Driving Miss Daisy" and "The Dark Knight," is also a co-owner of the Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale.

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