Jeremy Renner says snowplow accident was ‘a bad way to start the year’

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Jeremy Renner addressed his horrific snowplow accident in a chat with late-night host Jimmy Kimmel Monday night.

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“If there was any question as to who the toughest Avenger is, that’s settled now, right?” Kimmel joked, with Renner quickly replying it’s still “Scarlett Johansson.”

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Renner was gravely injured when he tried to stop his snowplow from running over his nephew in a tragic New Year’s Day accident.

In a report obtained by CNN, Renner’s PistenBully snow groomer “started sliding sideways” when he attempted to pull his nephew’s stuck truck out of snow.

“The PistenBully snow groomer began sliding causing Renner to exit the vehicle without setting the emergency brake,” the report concluded.

“Once he was off the PistenBully, he realized it was heading directly toward (his nephew),” the report read. “He feared the PistenBully was going to hit (his nephew), so he decided to attempt to stop or divert the PistenBully.”

Renner was “completely crushed under a large snowcat” when he was dragged under the PistenBully and had “extreme (difficulty) breathing,” with “the right side of his chest … collapsed (and his) upper torso crushed,” according to a 911 log.

“I got lucky in a lot of ways. I’m happy to be here,” Renner told Kimmel, who introduced the two-time Oscar nominee by saying he beat “Thanos, Loki and a 14,000-pound slowplow.”

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Renner went on to add that he “didn’t see” any of the carnage and was worried about his nephew, Alex Fries, and how he was reacting to the accident.

“One thing I thought about once I was clear enough — this was still while I was on the ground before the ambulance even got there — was what my experience was like, but then I had to think about Alex’s because Alex was there the entire time,” Renner said. “I mean he had to see Uncle Jeremy on the ground.”

Renner, who walked onstage with a cane, said the accident “was a very, very bad way to start the year.”

“I got lucky in a lot of ways,” he continued. “I’m lucky to be here.”

In his first interview since the accident, Renner told ABC News’ Diane Sawyer earlier this month that he willed himself to survive after suffering his tragic injuries.

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“I chose to survive. That’s not gonna kill me. I’ve lost a lot of flesh and bone in this experience, but I’ve been refuelled and refilled with love and titanium,” he said.

In his conversation with Kimmel, Renner said rescuers “jammed some sort of emergency knife” into his chest.

“That’s when I was like, ‘I got to go to sleep,’” the actor said.

He became aware that his injuries — which saw him break over 30 bones and suffer a collapsed lung — were very serious when his famous friends started reaching out.

“Everybody’s acting like it’s an open casket, and you’re living through it,” he said. “Their reaction was what made me think I really hurt myself. I might not pull out of this.”

Now Renner, who leads the new reality series Rennervations on Disney+, has an open calendar for the rest of the year as he recovers.

“My year was pretty jammed up before I got crushed,” he joked. “But now I’m like, ‘No one can mess with me. I’m free.’”

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