Morgan Freeman in Good Spirits After Suffering Serious Car-Crash Injuries

HOLLYWOOD - Morgan Freeman is in good spirits despite suffering serious injuries in a Mississippi car accident on Sunday, according to new reports.

The 71-year-old actor was reportedly driving in Mississippi's Tallahatchie County with a female passenger identified as Demaris Meyer, when he lost control of his vehicle, flipping his car several times.

The accident occurred on Mississippi Highway 32, four miles west of Charleston, near Freeman's home.

Charleston's Sun Sentinel editor Clay McFerrin reports Freeman's 1997 Nissan Maxima appeared to have been airborne before it left the highway and landed in a ditch. But he adds the actor remained in good spirits despite being surrounded by emergency crews at the scene.

He says, "They had to use the jaws of life to extract him from the vehicle. He was lucid, conscious. He was talking, joking with some of the rescue workers at one point."

Freeman and Meyer were reportedly airlifted from the scene and admitted to the Regional Medical Center (The Med) in Memphis, Tennessee. The Shawshank Redemption actor is being held in the highest trauma unit there and remains in serious condition, according to the facility's spokeswoman, Kathy Stringer.

TMZ.com reports Freeman has broken several ribs and injured his knee in the accident, although both passengers were wearing seatbelts at the time.

Bill Luckett, friend and co-owner of Freeman's Mississippi restaurant Madidi, confirms Freeman's condition has continued to improve, adding that the star was sitting up and talking during a hospital visit on Monday.

According to reports, Meyer is suffering from minor injuries but is "all in all in good condition."

Mississippi Highway Patrol spokesman Sergeant Ben Williams has confirmed Freeman was involved in a wreck, but has not commented on local reports that allege the actor fell asleep at the wheel prior to the collision, adding that he was still gathering information and details on the incident.

No other vehicles were involved in the accident.