Shocking animation shows how Jeremy Renner was almost crushed to death by snow cat
A dramatic new animation depicts the moment when Jeremy Renner was dragged under the snowplow at his Nevada home on New Year’s Day, while revealing that the Oscar-nominated actor can now walk with just a cane.
Renner, 52, was lucky to be alive after the horrific accident.
In an interview with Diane Sawyer aired Thursday night, he and his family reconstructed the events leading up to the incident and recounted his remarkable struggle for survival.
Renner said he and his cousin, Alex Fries, were trying to clear the way outside the house so the family could go skiing.
Fries tried to maneuver a pickup truck and Renner helped with the snowplow. They managed to free the pickup and Renner was moving the snow plow out of the way when it began to skid.
Jeremy Renner, 52, shows Diane Sawyer the events leading up to his being crushed by a snowplow on New Year’s Day at his Nevada home
Renner reflected on his existence and wondered if he would be “just a spine and a brain,” he said
Renner is seen in the reconstruction leaning out of the cabin to see if his cousin was out of the way
Renner fell and was then dragged under the tracks of the snowplow
His cousin Alex Fries was trying to move a pickup truck at the time
He could not see Fries and was concerned that his cousin was about to be hit by the seven-ton plow.
Renner loaned out the snowplow cab, which he told Sawyer was “kind of like driving a car with your foot outside the car.”
He added, “It was my fault.”
Renner fell and then tried to get back into the cab while the tire tracks were still moving, but was sucked under.
“Then I screamed, as I went under the thing – ‘not today, motherf*****’,” he said.
Sawyer asked if he remembered the pain.
‘Oh, everything. It all woke me up,” Renner said.
“I was on tarmac and ice. It feels like imagining it.
“I could see my eye from my other eye. I saw stars.’
Fries and Renner before the accident
Blood-soaked snow exposes horrific accident that happened near Renner’s home in Lake Tahoe, Nevada
He suffered 30 broken bones, a collapsed lung and had his liver pierced by a shattered rib in the horrific New Year’s Day fatality
Fries saw what was happening and ran like crazy to get help.
“When I ran to him, I didn’t think he was alive.
It’s pretty terrifying to see the person you look up to like this.
Then his head turned a little and breath came out.
He ran into Renner’s neighbors, who rushed to their assistant – desperately trying to prevent the actor, whom they did not recognize, from passing out and succumbing to his injuries.
He broke 12 ribs on one side and two on the other – he suffered a broken right knee, ankle and right shoulder; a collapsed lung; a broken jaw and eye socket; and a pierced liver.
In all, he broke more than 30 bones – 15 percent of his bones were affected.
But remarkably, Sawyer’s team was sent a video of Renner recently walking down the stairs with only a cane for assistance.
He said he plans to make a full recovery, which he said was due to “stubborn faith.”
“I’ve lost a lot of flesh and bones,” he told Sawyer.
“But I’m fueled with love — and titanium.”
Renner said he likes to leave stunts in future movies to the stunt professionals.
His doctors said his recovery was due to him being young and healthy, plus a strong drive.
They said it helped that he was “down to earth, with a super supportive structure.”
Renner said he would do the same thing again, as the alternative was for the snowplow to crush his cousin.
“I refuse to be fucking haunted by that memory,” he said.
In his first interview since the accident, he revealed he signed “I’m sorry” to his family who sat by his side while the Avengers star recovered.
‘I moved my legs, and I said, he’s really confused. That leg is going to be a problem,” he said.
‘What does my body look like? Will I just become like a spine and a brain like a science experiment? Is that my existence now? What will my existence be like?’
While sitting in his wheelchair talking to ABC’s Diane Sawyer, Renner held back tears as he revealed the moments in the hospital when he couldn’t even talk to his loving family who desperately wanted him to survive the accident.
“I gestured I’m sorry, because I’m sorry,” he said before talking about how his mother never left his side.
“She’s reading Stephen King, some horror thing. But she reads it like she’s reading Dr. Seuss to me,” he said.
His mother, Valerie Cearley, added, “I just wanted him to hear my voice.”
Cearley broke down when she talked about the moment she learned of her son’s accident, saying “his breathing was so horrible.”
Photos from the scene showed a pool of blood where Renner had been crushed.
His neighbor, Rich Kovach, remembered the moment he called 911, which would ultimately save his life.
“The sounds coming out of him, there was so much blood in the snow,” he said.
“When I looked at his head it looked like it was wide open, and I could see white, I don’t know if that was his skull, maybe it was just my imagination, but that’s what I thought I saw. ‘
Valerie Cearley, Renner’s mother, broke down when she spoke of the moment she learned of her son’s accident, saying: ‘His breathing was so horrible’
Photos from the scene showed a pool of blood where Renner was crushed, his neighbor, Rich Kovach, remembering the moment he made the harrowing 911 call that would ultimately save his life. His partner Barb also shared her memories
Renner had been using a Snowcat plow to help his adult cousin, Alexander Fries, pull his car out of deep snow when he jumped out, forgetting to apply the emergency brake
His partner, Barb Fletcher, said she didn’t know who it was but remembers “a lot of blood came out of his head.”
“I grabbed one of the towels that was still folded and applied pressure. I could tell he was really struggling to breathe,” she said.
Fries, sitting next to his uncle, remembers telling him to breathe.
“Just breathe, just breathe. That is it. I stood over him in this crouched position holding his arm the whole time, seconds after that guy came over,” he said.
‘It was just that. I was locked inside him.’
Renner said he refuses to be a victim of the situation.
“So I change the story of being victimized, or making a mistake, or whatever,” he said.
“I refuse to let that memory haunt me, that way I talk to my family about it, all their perspectives, which are horrifying.
Alexander Fries, standing next to his uncle, remembers telling him to breathe and was also with him during his recovery
Renner said he refuses to be a victim of the situation and is focused on recovery
“We just stuck with it, that’s real love. Suffering, but that feeds the seeds of what love is.’
Renner broke 30 bones, including both ankles, his right knee, his right collarbone and eight ribs.
He suffered a collapsed lung and his liver was punctured by one of his broken ribs.
His sister Kim told Sawyer that Renner was in so much pain that he was “delirious” and crying because he couldn’t sleep.
“We just held on,” Renner said.
‘That’s real love. Suffering, but that feeds the seeds of what love is.’
When asked what he sees when he looks in the mirror, Renner replied, “I see a happy man.”
He has not returned to the house in Nevada and has not been able to thank Rich Kovach and Barb Fletcher.
Sawyer called the pair on FaceTime and Renner was able to thank them.
“It took an army to keep this old moron alive,” he said, visibly moved.
‘I am so grateful. Without you I would be dead.
“I can’t wait to see you all, and then we’ll have dinner together.”