USC basketball player Alijah Arenas has detailed what led up to the fiery Tesla Cybertruck crash that put him in a coma in April.
Arenas, a five-star recruit who is now a freshman for the Trojans, crashed his Cybertruck into a tree and fire hydrant in Reseda in the early hours of April 24.
The 18-year-old Arenas, who’s the son of former NBA star Gilbert Arenas, wasn’t seriously hurt, but he did reportedly inhale a great deal of smoke from the resulting car fire, and doctors put him into a medically induced coma.
Addressing the media on Tuesday, Arenas said the first problem he noted was that “the wheel wasn’t moving as easily as it should,” video shared by L.A. Times USC beat writer Ryan Kartje shows.
The steering was troublesome, so Arenas tried to pull off the road and park in a neighborhood, only to find “I can’t stop.”
“The wheel’s not responding to me, as if I’m not physically in there,” he said.
After that, “all I felt was pressure,” he said.
Arenas said based on video he’s seen, the car “caught fire on impact,” but he was knocked out for about three minutes.
In a longer video shared by InsideTroy, Arenas said he “had my seatbelt on, thank God,” preventing further injury, although the fire had consumed the dashboard.
The car was locked, rendering him unable to escape, so he moved to the back seat and worked on breaking out a window as he floated in and out of consciousness.
Luckily, someone outside the vehicle was also trying to free him, and he was able to keep himself conscious and get out of the vehicle before passing out again. Outside of a few moments of awareness, he said he didn’t become fully aware again until he was at the hospital.
“At the same time I was working, they were working too,” he said. “It took a lot for them, and I’m grateful for everybody who helped; I’m grateful for everybody’s prayers, that’s first and foremost.”
