Actor Jeremy Renner was trying to stop a snow removal tractor that had skidded and was heading straight for his nephew when it was crushed under the vehicle Jan. 1, according to an incident report from a Nevada sheriff’s office.
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The 54-year-old told investigators he was towing his nephew’s pickup truck, which was snow-covered in his driveway at the time of the accident, according to the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office CNN report.
As the car was being towed down the street, the snowplow, a snowcat branded snow groomer, began “sliding sideways” and then “rolling downhill.”
Jeremy Renner then jumped out of the tractor,” he told investigators.
Once outside, the ‘Avengers’ actor found the vehicle heading straight for his nephew, according to the report cited by CNN.
Afraid the snowplow would hit his nephew, he tried to stop or dodge it. But to get into the cab, he had to climb onto the tracks of the moving tractor.
It was “immediately sucked under the left caterpillar,” says the report.
“The snow groomer drove over him and headed down the street,” the report, seen by CNN, reads.
“He lay on the ground, concentrating on his breathing [son neveu et d’autres personnes] rescued him until medical personnel arrived at the scene.”
A 911 call, which CNN also got a copy of, suggested the actor was “completely crushed under a large snow plow” and was “extremely difficult to breathe,” with “the right side of his torso … having collapsed, the upper torso is crushed”.
No handbrake
The handbrake was not on, according to the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office report available to CNN.
“The Pistenbully brand snow groomer began to slide, resulting in Jeremy Renner getting out of the vehicle without applying the emergency brake,” according to the findings of the report available to CNN.
The tractor had mechanical problems, but the handbrake could have prevented it from sliding further, the report concludes.
“A mechanical failure may have been a factor in this accident.”
In addition, the warning light for the brakes, which was located in the cabin, did not work.