Morgan Freeman is reportedly on the mend following surgery Monday night to reconnect nerves and repair damage to his left arm and hand.
The procedure at the Regional Medical Center in Memphis “lasted approximately four and a half hours including recovery and he is in good spirits and was visiting with family members this morning,” his publicist Donna Lee said in a statement Tuesday. “He was walking this (morning), and is looking forward to his release as soon as possible.”
Freeman, 71, was driving a 1997 Nissan Maxima owned by his passenger, Demaris Meyer, 48, of Memphis, Tenn., when the car careened off of the rural highway in Tallahatchie County, Miss. and flipped several times before landing upright in a ditch.
Rescuers used a jaws-of-life machine to free “The Dark Knight” star and Meyer from the wreckage. Retired police officer Bill Rogers, a witness to the accident, told the Associated Press he said he was “watching television about 11:15 [Sunday night] and I heard a car sliding on the highway out in front of our house.”
Rogers said Freeman complained of pain from injuries before being loaded onto a medical helicopter and airlifted to the hospital, but “was more concerned about the people around him than himself.”
“Mr. Freeman thought he may have gone to sleep but he wasn’t sure,” Rogers said. “He didn’t know what happened.”
Hospital spokeswoman Kathy Stringer said Freeman remained in serious condition.
