Los Angeles (AFP) - Actor Jeremy Renner, known for playing Hawkeye in several Marvel blockbusters, suffered a "traumatic injury" from a snow plow he was operating near his home in Nevada, a local sheriff's office and US media said on Monday.
Renner was in "critical but stable condition" after a truck-sized vehicle he was using to plow snow after a winter storm ran over his leg, US media said.
"Renner was the only involved party in the incident," said a statement by the Washoe County Sheriff's Office, noting that emergency personnel evacuated the movie star by air to a local hospital.
Renner was clearing a road with a tracked snow vehicle near his home in a rural area of the Sierra Nevada Mountains between Reno and Lake Tahoe "so his family could get out after a massive New Year's eve storm," the TMZ entertainment website said.
He lost "a serious amount of blood" due to the accident, it said, and a neighbor, a physician, applied a tourniquet until paramedics and an evacuation helicopter arrived.
Renner received injuries to "other parts of his body" as well as his leg, TMZ added, citing an unnamed source close to his family.
"We can confirm Jeremy is in critical but stable condition with injuries suffered after experiencing a weather-related accident while plowing snow earlier today," Renner's representative told The Hollywood Reporter.
"His family is with him and he is receiving excellent care," the representative, who was unnamed, added.
Renner, 51, has been nominated for two Oscars for his roles in "The Hurt Locker" and "The Town."
He has also appeared as Clint Barton, also known as superhero Hawkeye, in several Marvel films and a recent miniseries.
Renner owns property near Mt Rose-Ski Tahoe, an area near Reno, Nevada that has been hit by winter storms, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
He recently posted on social media about severe weather conditions in the area around Lake Tahoe, which borders California and Nevada and is a world-renowned skiing destination.
On December 13, Renner tweeted a photo of a car buried by snow with the caption "Lake Tahoe snowfall is no joke."
In the weekend accident Renner was using a Snowcat, a special vehicle with tracks and an enclosed cab designed to move on, groom or plow snow, TMZ said.
