A family member driving Renner's car had got stuck in the snow near his house, the sheriff said. Using his snow plough, Renner successfully towed the car free.

He then got out to talk to his relative, but the snow plough began to move while empty.

Renner was trying to get back into the driver's seat to stop it moving, when the "extremely large" piece of equipment ran him over, Mr Balaam said.

All the more sad that he was just trying to help people.