Clooney in crash with Mercedes ... but rest easy, ladies, he’s OK
GEORGE Clooney was taken to hospital yesterday after he was hit by a car while riding his moped.
The American actor broke the windscreen of a Mercedes which collided with him on the Italian island of Sardinia, where he is filming a TV series.
The crash happened just after 8am as Clooney drove towards the northern city of Olbia.
Pictures showed his moped lying on its side in the road. The blue Mercedes had its front licence plate knocked off and its windscreen smashed.
Witnesses said Clooney’s head had hit the windshield.
The car had caused the collision by ‘not respecting the right of way’, police said.
Clooney had been wearing a helmet and was not driving fast when the collision happened.
The 57-year-old was treated by the road before being taken to hospital. A scan found he had ‘trauma’ to the pelvis, hip and knee, but no fractures.
He left the hospital with wife Amal, 40, a human rights lawyer, two hours later. He was told that it would take 20 days to recover.
An oil stain and police paint remained on the road where the accident happened last night.
The actor is currently filming a Channel 4 adaptation of Joseph Heller novel Catch-22 where he plays US Air Force commander Scheisskopf.
Clooney, his wife and their oneyear-old twins Ella and Alexander are based on the Italian island during filming.
‘The accident happened in a very touristy area,’ a source said. A representative for Clooney said: ‘He is recovering at his home and will be fine.’
It is understood he and his family are currently staying in a rented villa in the high-end area of Puntaldia on the North East coast of Sardinia, which overlooks the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Staff at the home last night declined to comment.
The couple have been regularly seen in the area throughout the summer.
A Police spokesman said: ‘At 8.15am George Clooney was riding his scooter on the State Road 125 towards Olbia from Puntaldia. A car ... did not respect the right of way and hit him. George Clooney fell and slammed the windshield of the Mercedes. The car driver called the 112, the emergency number of Carabinieri, and they sent the municipal police, an ambulance and the fire department.
‘[The] MRI was negative, and he is not seriously injured.’
Clooney is a frequent visitor to Italy. He has a home on Lake Como and married Mrs Clooney in Venice, in 2014.
The couple also own a home in Los Angeles, as well as a mansion in the Berkshire village of Sonning-on-Thames.
Gossip website TMZ last night claimed Clooney had been riding at 60mph at the time of the collision – though witnesses said the star was travelling considerably slower than that. The website also said he was hurled 20ft in the air and ‘propelled over the car’.
‘Recovering at his home’