“The car malfunctioned on him,” Gilbert Arenas says as he recalls what happened on that unfortunate day. On April 24, the father of five received the horrifying call about his son’s accident. His son Alijah was in his Tesla Cyber Truck when he ran into a fire hydrant and a tree. With the car engulfed in flames and smoke, the teen was stuck inside, struggling for nearly 12 minutes to escape. Help finally reached him, and he recovered well. Months later, Alijah has now opened up about the incident.
This is the USC commit’s first interaction with reporters after his accident. While Alijah survived the accident, which took place at 4:56 a.m., without breaking any bones or sustaining other major injuries, he is believed to have inhaled a lot of smoke due to the fire. As a result, he was placed in a medically induced coma. His parents kept sharing updates on their son’s health. But, as the 18-year-old sat down for a conversation, he detailed the harrowing experience of how it all began.
The first thing he remembered was that his phone kept showing he was still in the gym, even though he had already finished practice and was in his car. “Me on the way to the gym, I saw, I noticed like little things that I don’t normally see in the car,” he said. Following this, he recalled issues with the keypads turning off on their own and light flickering.
He recalled that the steering wheel wasn’t responding to him. “I switched lanes without meaning to, and I knew something was wrong,” Arenas explained. That’s when he began to notice further issues. “So I speed up to pull over to the right in a neighborhood because there are cars parked on the street I’m on to the right. But when I’m speeding up to turn, I can’t stop. The wheel’s not responding to me as if I wasn’t physically in the car,” he said.
A picture featuring Alijah Arenas
While speculation ran rampant about the cause of the accident, former NBA player Arenas clarified that his son didn’t fall asleep in the car but rather that the car had malfunctioned. During the Golden State Warriors’ player’s appearance in the show, Arenas had also explained that the steering wheel of the car went “limp” and “ran him” into a tree.
From the young hooper’s account of how the accident occurred, it’s clear that he faced issues even before the car had crashed. This takes an interesting turn since Arenas’ fans had earlier criticised Elon Musk’s Tesla, which is considered to be one of the “Safest Truck on the Road” as per its official website.
Despite surviving such a frightening incident, he had just one concern when he woke up.
After frightening accident, Alijah Arenas’ mind was elsewhere
It was his concern for others. Young Arenas initially lost consciousness after crashing his car. Upon regaining consciousness, he struggled to see clearly due to the smoke. During the interview, Alijah also described the terrifying details of the car heating up to the point where it felt like a sauna. Those few minutes felt like hours for him as he tried to kick the windows open.
And well, the futuristic car, Cybertruck’s “unbreakable” windows are known for its strength and durability. With some help from the bystanders who noticed the kicking and pounding, he was finally taken out. As stated, he was taken to the hospital and put into a medically induced coma.
Even after waking up, he couldn’t speak for some time, so he wrote to ask whether anyone else was hurt. Earlier, the ex-Warriors player also shared that his son’s first question was to ensure that he didn’t hurt or injure anyone.
Alijah also expressed relief that none of his siblings were driving the car at the time and that no one else got hurt. “Honestly, I take full responsibility. Whether it was me, another car, a malfunction. I don’t really want to put anyone else in this situation — whoever made the car, anything. I want to take full responsibility for what I do. If I would’ve hurt somebody, that would have really taken a toll on me,” he said.
But that again leaves us with the question of Tesla’s safety, which might spark concern.
The post Alijah Arenas Exposes Flaws in Elon Musk’s Cybertruck as He Recounts Life-Threatening Accident appeared first on EssentiallySports.
