A newly released animation reconstructs the terrifying moment when actor Jeremy Renner was severely injured by a 14,000-pound snowplow near his Lake Tahoe residence on New Year’s Day.
In his first interview since the near-death experience, Renner recounted the harrowing event, which left him with 30 broken bones and a collapsed lung.
The animation, unveiled during Renner’s ABC News interview with Diane Sawyer, depicts the actor operating a 1988 Pistenbully snowcat while his nephew, Alex Fries, connects a chain from the snowplow to a Ford Raptor they were trying to relocate to a snow-free street. Renner explained to Sawyer that he was driving the snowcat with the truck trailing behind to clear the final stretch of his driveway, aiming to reach the paved area.
Once the truck was parked on the street, Fries disconnected it from the snowcat, and Renner began turning the snowcat around on the icy, sloping road.
As the snowcat slid on the icy pavement, Renner grew concerned for his nephew’s safety and decided to look outside the cab. He placed one foot on the snowcat’s wet steel rolling tracks while keeping the other inside the cab, neglecting to engage the parking brake in the process.
The accident unfolded quickly.
Renner’s foot slipped, and he fell off the snowplow as it started to roll. Trying to protect his nephew from getting pinned between the moving plow and the truck, Renner attempted to jump back into the cab.
The plow’s tracks propelled him forward, causing him to fall onto the snow, and the plow barreled towards him. Renner could not recall every detail of the accident, but he vividly remembers the excruciating pain.
The snowplow rolled over his entire body, starting at his feet and moving up to his head. The machine continued to move down the hill, with Fries still in danger. Fries managed to get into the truck, but the snowcat caught up to him and pushed the vehicle into a 7-foot snowbank, finally coming to a stop.
When Fries found his uncle in a pool of blood, he initially feared the worst, as Renner was unresponsive. Emergency responders were called, and Renner was airlifted to a hospital in Reno, where he underwent multiple surgeries for his injuries.