JACKSON, Miss. - Morgan Freeman remained in serious condition Tuesday with a broken arm and elbow after rescuers used a jaws-of-life machine to free him and a passenger from the wreckage of his car.

Freeman, 71, and Demaris Meyer, 48, of Memphis, Tenn., were taken to the Regional Medical Center in Memphis following the accident on a dark stretch of rural Mississippi Delta highway in Tallahatchie County on Sunday night.

State troopers said the car careened off the highway and flipped end-over-end before landing upright in a ditch.

Bill Rogers, a retired police officer, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he witnessed the accident near the small town of Charleston, not far from where the Oscar-winning actor owns a home with his wife.

"I was watching television about 11:15 and I heard a car sliding on the highway out in front of our house. As I looked out the window, I saw it began to flip after it hit our next-door neighbour's drive,'' Rogers said. "It went end-over-end about twice and then it came back on its wheels in the ditch. It was a mess.''

Rogers said Freeman and Meyer were briefly unconscious when he got to the vehicle. Freeman was driving Meyer's 1997 Nissan Maxima, authorities said.

"Mr. Freeman thought he may have gone to sleep but he wasn't sure,'' Rogers said. "He didn't know what happened.''

"The car was bent on the front as well as rear _ I mean severely,'' Rogers said. "It was so bad I couldn't tell what it was.''

The Mississippi Highway Patrol is still investigating the accident, Sgt. Ben Williams said Tuesday. Alcohol and drugs don't appear to be a factor and no citations are likely to be filed, he said.

Freeman was airlifted about 145 kilometres to the Regional Medical Center where he was treated for a broken arm, broken elbow and shoulder damage, according to his publicist, Donna Freeman.

Hospital spokeswoman Kathy Stringer said Tuesday that Freeman remained in serious condition. Meyer's name wasn't in the hospital registry, Stringer said. However, under medical privacy laws people can request that their names not be listed as patients at a hospital.

Williams said Meyer was in the Memphis hospital when the Highway Patrol checked Monday night and both she and Freeman were in "good spirits.''

Rogers said Freeman complained of pain from injuries before being loaded onto a medical helicopter, but "was more concerned about the people around him than himself.''

Freeman won an Oscar for his role in "Million Dollar Baby.'' His screen credits also include "The Dark Knight,'' now in theatres, "Driving Miss Daisy'' and "The Bucket List.''