Jeremy Renner Celebrates Snowplow’s Return After Near-Fatal Accident

Jeremy Renner just marked a major milestone in his recovery process. The 52-year-old actor posted on his Instagram Story this week when his snow plow returned to his home in Nevada nearly three months after it ran him over. Renner seemed to be in high spirits, posting about the machine with a smiling emoji.

“She’s finally making her way home,” Renner wrote alongside a picture of his PistenBully snow removal machine arriving at his house on a flatbed truck. “The cat get[s] a police escort… Feels like The Green Mile!” This massive machine lost traction and slid over Renner on New Year’s Day, breaking 30 of his bones and nearly taking his life. The actor is still in the process of recovering and rehabilitating from the accident, but his outlook seems to have remained positive throughout the whole ordeal.

Renner was using the plow to clear a huge amount of snow from his driveway and the surrounding roads after spending New Year’s Eve with family members at his home in Nevada, just outside of Reno. He was reportedly trying to clear space for his nephew who was working on dislodging his own truck. At some point, Renner could feel the PistenBully losing traction and saw it sliding toward his nephew. He jumped to push his nephew out of the way but was run over himself in the process.

The PistenBully weighs 14,330 pounds according to its manufacturer, and it is supposed to be equipped with numerous safety features to prevent an accident like this. After Renner was airlifted to the hospital, his machine was taken into police custody for a thorough examination to “rule out any potential mechanical failure of why it may have started to roll.” In a press conference a few weeks later, Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam said that this was standard procedure for any investigation.

Ultimately, police found that the machine had no issues relating to this accident and that the emergency brake may have been able to prevent Renner’s injuries. A report published by CNN read: “Although the PistenBully had some mechanical issues, it is believed based on our mechanical inspection that the parking brake would keep the PistenBully from moving forward.”

Renner continues to promote his work as an actor while posting updates on social media about his recovery process. He has thanked fans for their outpouring of support. It’s not clear when exactly the actor will be back at 100 percent capacity, nor when he might make a triumphant return to the screen.