Jeremy Renner shared his first public message on Tuesday since suffering extensive damage in a snowplow accident on Jan. 1.
Someone else likely posted the photo of him in his hospital bed to Instagram with the caption, “Thank you all for your kind words. I’m too messed up now to type. But I send love to you all.”
The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office also held a live-streamed press conference on Tuesday about what they are calling “a tragic accident.”
Sheriff Darin Balaam said, “Based on our investigation, Mr. Renner’s personal vehicle, which was being driven by a family member, had become stuck in the snow near his home. Mr. Renner went to retrieve his PistenBully [a brand of snowplow] or Sno-Cat, an extremely large piece of snow removal equipment weighing at least 14,330 pounds, in an effort to get his vehicle moving. After successfully towing his personal vehicle from its stuck location, Mr. Renner got out of his PistenBully to speak to his family member.”
Balaam said that the snowplow began to roll and Renner attempted to get back into the driver’s seat. “It’s at this point that Mr. Renner is run over by the PistenBully and a witness detailed seeing Mr. Renner getting into the PistenBully and not seeing him again until it came to rest in a pile of snow in front of his driveway.”
The seriff, who said earlier he wanted to clear up “misinformation” about the accident, added, “At this point in the investigation, we do not believe Mr. Renner was impaired at all and we believe this is a tragic accident. The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office is in possession of his PistenBully and we are analyzing it to any potential mechanical failure of why it may have started to roll. This is part of our normal investigation process for any major investigation.”
Renner underwent two surgeries on Monday to repair injuries including blunt chest trauma, after which he was reported to be in “critical but stable condition.”
