Teen who was on life support after suffering cardiac arrest during basketball game is now dead

A Detroit high school basketball player who suffered cardiac arrest during a game last week has died.

Cartier Woods, who was 18, died Monday, according to sources WJBK-TV.

He had been on life support for less than a week.

At the time of his collapse WXYZ TV reported that Woods’ aunt and legal guardian, Dwanda Woods, said he had no known previous heart problems. His cousin Shantell Woods said he was “very healthy”.

The incident in which Woods was hit occurred during a game on Jan. 31.

Northwestern High School athletic director Jay Alexander said so The Detroit News that Woods “put himself out of the game and then collapsed near the bench” early in the first quarter.

“He sat on the sidelines and just collapsed,” Alexander said.

“He felt something was wrong, so he just told the coach he had to leave the game because he wasn’t feeling well.”

🚨BREAKING – Cartier Woods, 18-year-old elite athlete, went into sudden cardiac arrest during a basketball game and is now on life support pic.twitter.com/HVIGHhcegC

— James Cintolo, RN FN CPT (@healthbyjames) February 2, 2023

Alexander said that an automated external defibrillator, or AED, was used on Woods and that he was then taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital.

Alexander said that after the collapse, Woods “was never vigilant. That’s probably why they say cardiac arrest because his heart stopped, but it wasn’t a heart attack.”

Frederick Douglass Academy coach Pierre Brooks Sr., who played Northwestern, called it “a pretty tragic scene.”

The game was abandoned after the incident.

“It was mutual [Northwestern coach George Tyson’s] Players and my players and fans that it wouldn’t be good if we continued,” Brooks said.

Brooks likened the incident to the collapse of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin during a Monday Night Football game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Jan. 2.

The news reported that Woods was also a star on the Northwest football team and wanted to play sports in college.