Reno mayor Actor Renner was helping stranded car when hurt

Reno, Nev. (AP) – Actor Jeremy Renner was hurt over the weekend in a snow-plow accident in the foothills on the outskirts of Reno while helping a stranded driver, according to the city’s mayor.

Reno Mayor Hilary Shive said the 51-year-old “Avengers” star was trying to help a car stuck outside his home on the side of a snowy mountain on New Year’s Day when his own truck ran over him. The accident left Reiner in serious but stable condition with chest and orthopedic injuries.

“He was helping someone trapped in the snow,” Shiva told the Reno Gazette-Journal Monday night. She said she and the actor are friends and she was told about the accident shortly after Sunday morning’s accident near Mount Rose Highway, which connects Reno to Lake Tahoe.

She told the publication, “He’s always trying to help others.”

The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Sunday that Renner was airlifted by helicopter to a local hospital before deputies responded to a report of a traumatic injury in the area of Mount Rose Highway around 9 a.m. Sunday. A powerful winter storm dropped more than 2 feet (0.6 m) of snow in the area from Saturday night into Sunday morning.

Reiner was “a party involved in the event,” the sheriff’s office stated at the time, and the team’s Major Accident Investigation Team was “looking into the facts of the incident.”

Sheriff Darin Balam scheduled a news conference for 3:30 p.m. The office said in a statement early Tuesday to clarify details about “the Sheriff’s Office’s response to the accident.”

A publicist for Renner said in a statement Monday that he suffered severe chest trauma and orthopedic injuries and remains in serious but stable condition in an intensive care unit after surgery at a Reno hospital.

Renner portrays Hawkeye, a dynamic member of the superhero Avengers team, in the vast film and television universe created by Marvel.

He’s a two-time Oscar nominee, with back-to-back nods for “The Hurt Locker” and “The Town.” Renner’s portrayal of a bomb disposal expert in Iraq in 2009’s “The Hurt Locker” helped turn him into a household name.

“The Avengers” cemented him in 2012 as part of Marvel’s grand storytelling ambitions, with his character appearing in multiple sequels and getting his own Disney+ series, “Hawkeye.”