During an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show, former NBA star Gilbert Arenas opened up about the fiery car crash that resulted in his son Alijah, 18, being placed into a medically induced coma.
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 on April 24. Despite the reported severity of the crash, Sports Illustrated‘s Tarek Fattal said that Alijah “suffered no major bodily injuries.”
In the recent update on Alijah’s condition, Arenas, 43, similarly said his son did not suffer any severe injuries and is “doing very well,” Yahoo Sports reported. Arenas in the interview was also asked what he did as soon as he became aware of his son’s car crash. He recalled the Tesla app was faulty, and he was initially left confused as a result.
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“Usually I wake up at 4:30 and I go through the Tesla app to see if he’s heading home or at the gym. His car is at the gym, so I continue my workout and my daughter said, ‘What are you doing?’ I said, ‘I’m working out.’ She said, ‘You haven’t heard? Your son just got in an accident.’ ‘At the gym?’ ‘No he’s at the hospital,’” the former Washington Wizards star recalled.
“I just stopped everything and ran over there and was like, ‘What the hell’s going on? Was it his car? What’s going on?’ I realized the app actually malfunctioned. I found that out a couple days later when he started waking up.”
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Arenas also said Alijah was poised for a full recovery after he was discharged from the hospital last week. Arenas further revealed 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.”
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.”
Per the California Department of Motor Vehicles, the Cybertruck Alijah was driving is registered to his father Gilbert, NBC News reported. Los Angeles Times USC beat writer Ryan Kartje also reported that the crash was not likely caused by drugs or alcohol, adding that it was rather a result of a loss of control.
Alijah is a student at Chatsworth High School in Los Angeles and is regarded as a top college recruit, ESPN reported. He also received offers from Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky, and Louisville.
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