During a recent appearance on the All The Smoke podcast, former NBA star Gilbert Arenas said his son Alijah’s fiery April 24 car crash happened after the teen’s Tesla Cybertruck malfunctioned.
As previously reported by Face2Face Africa, Alijah, who is a Southern California basketball recruit, crashed his Tesla Cybertruck into a tree and fire hydrant in Los Angeles. Despite the reported severity of the crash, Sports Illustrated‘s Tarek Fattal said that Alijah “suffered no major bodily injuries.” The 18-year-old was, however, placed into a medically induced coma due to massive smoke inhalation.
“The car malfunctioned on him,” Arenas, 43, said in reference to what caused his son’s car crash, per Complex. “The steering wheel went limp and ran him right into a tree.”
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The former Washington Wizards star also said his son was unable to break the window following the crash. “Physically, he said he was trying to kick the window in and couldn’t. If you’re a parent and your teen has this car, you might want to put a hammer in that joint,” he said.
Arenas also said he later spoke with Alijah and let him know how lucky he was to have made it out alive. “I gave him that speech,” Arenas said. “You’re a lucky one to see this. Most people don’t get to see the flowers and how everyone reacts when something happens…You can’t take this sh*t for granted.”
Alijah was ultimately discharged from the hospital on April 30, and his father in a previous interview revealed the teen was poised for a full recovery, Face2Face Africa reported.
Arenas in the interview on The Dan Patrick Show also said that in the wake of the crash, his son was stuck in the Cybertruck for around 10 minutes, and he was eventually taken out of the vehicle by bystanders he referred to as “angels,” Yahoo Sports reported.
The 43-year-old said Alijah inhaled smoke while he was trapped in the Cybertruck, and that was why he was placed into an induced coma after he was taken to the hospital.
“My thing was making sure there were no broken limbs, there were no burns. Lucky for him, trapped inside of a car for so long, it’s lucky there were bystanders that heard the crash that early in the morning that got him out,” Arenas said.
“He was a little stronger than they thought. He was waking up going crazy, so they put him in an induced coma just to get the air. … They were getting the smoke and all of that out of his [lungs]. I guess he was in the car, it looked like about 10, 12 minutes. … Just inhaling that.”
Gilbert Arenas claims Cybertruck malfunction caused his son Alijah’s fiery crash. (
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