Jeremy Renner was run over by his snowplow after getting off of the equipment, the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday.
According to authorities, a family member was driving Renner’s vehicle when it got stuck due to weather conditions near his home. The actor got his snowplow, which weighed at least 14,330 pounds, to get the vehicle out, but when he got out to speak with the family member, the machine started to roll, hitting Renner.
“After successfully towing his personal vehicle from its stuck location, Mr. Renner got out of his PistenBully to speak with his family member,” Sheriff Darin Balaam said. “At this point, it is observed that the PistenBully started to roll. In an effort to stop the rolling PistenBully, Mr. Renner attempts to get back into the driver seat of the PistenBully. Based on our investigation, it’s at this point that Mr. Renner is run over by the PistenBully.”
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An eyewitness at the scene told authorities that they saw Renner get into the snowplow, but did not see him again until the machine came to a stop at a pile of snow in front of his driveway.
The sheriff’s office said the incident was a “tragic accident” and that they are investigating any potential mechanical failure of the snowplow. “This investigation is ongoing; however, we do not suspect any foul play. We believe it was a tragic accident,” Balaam added.
Ahead of the Tuesday news conference, Renner posted to Instagram a photo of himself in a hospital bed. “Thank you all for your kind words,” the actor wrote in the caption. “Im too messed up now to type. But I send love to you all.”
During the conference, Sheriff Balaam said no doctors were on the scene, but noted several of Renner’s neighbors came to the aid of the actor, who is an honorary deputy. “After Mr. Renner was run over by the PistenBully there were some neighbors that also brought out some towels to help, so I want to thank them as well for their quick response,” the sheriff said.
Rendering aid to Renner was delayed due in part to the weather conditions in the region, which had seen around three feet of snowfall. The more severe winter weather made it more difficult than usual for the helicopter to find a safe landing zone to address Renner’s “severe injuries.” No additional details on Renner’s medical condition were provided.
The Hawkeye star was injured Sunday while removing snow from his and a neighbor’s driveway at his Mt. Rose Highway area home, a rep for Renner told THR earlier Tuesday. He had been plowing to help family members leave the Nevada residence after a holiday celebration Sunday morning. The region experienced a heavy New Year’s Eve snowstorm that resulted in over 10,000 Washoe County residents without power, according to the Reno Gazette Journal, along with low temps and some area flooding.
The local sheriff’s office was called to the star’s Reno residence following reports of the accident. Local emergency responders transported Renner via care flight to a nearby hospital the same day. On Monday, the Avengers star — who was hospitalized and in critical but stable condition — underwent surgery after the accident caused “blunt chest trauma and orthopedic injuries,” according to his rep. Upon returning from surgery, he was placed in the intensive care unit.
“Jeremy’s family would like to express their gratitude to the incredible doctors and nurses looking after him,” the actor’s publicist, Sam Mast, shared in a statement on behalf of Renner’s family Monday. “They are also tremendously overwhelmed and appreciative of the outpouring of love and support from his fans.”
The actor, who appeared in 2009’s Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker and has starred as Clint Barton/Hawkeye in a number of MCU films and a Disney+ series, was slated to promote two upcoming projects this month. That includes the second season of Paramount+’s Mayor of Kingstown, which sees the actor starring as the mayor of a fictional Michigan town in the crime thriller set to return Jan. 15. There was also the debut of his four-part Disney+ nonfiction series Rennervations, which focuses on the actor’s passion for giving back and sees him “reimagining unique purpose-built vehicles to meet a community’s needs.”
It’s currently unclear whether the Taylor Sheridan-produced Paramount+ series will move its premiere date, though the show’s Jan. 11 press junket was canceled earlier Tuesday. Rennervations, which is not yet dated, was announced by Disney+ as an early 2023 release late last month.
