Nevada’s Washoe County Sheriff’s Office gave an update on exactly what had happened to the Hawkeye star at a livestreamed news conference. Officials made sure to point out that were handling the major accident investigation as they would any other. They’re continuing to conduct interviews and processing items from the scene.
“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 [snowplow] or snowcat, an extremely large piece of snow removal equipment, weighing at least 14,330 pounds. After successfully towing his personal vehicle from its stuck location, Mr. Renner got out of his PistenBully to speak to a family member. At this point, it is observed that the PistenBully started to roll. In an effort to stop the rolling PistenBully, Mr. Renner attempts to get back into the driver’s seat of the PistenBully.
Based on our investigation, it’s at this point that Mr. Renner is run over by the PistenBully. An eyewitness detailed seeing Mr. Renner get into the PistenBully and not seeing him again until the PistenBully came to a rest in a pile of snow in front of his driveway. At this point in the investigation, we do not believe Mr. Renner was impaired at all, and we believe this is a tragic accident.”
He added that the sheriff’s office now has the PistenBully, which is being analyzed so they can rule out any mechanical failures or factors like whether the machine was supposed to be in park, as they would in any major investigation. They don’t suspect any foul play, he said multiple times.
