Navjot Sekhon feared the worst for his friend as he lay sprawled on the asphalt of Henty Street, dazed, scared and bloodied after being mowed down in a horrific hit and run in Braddon early on Sunday morning.
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Mr Sekhon, 18, and Burma Han, 19, had just been hit by a white ute, whose owner handed himself in to police on Tuesday after seeing news reports of the crash.
Mr Sekhon spoke of the chaos and confusion in the seconds after the crash, and of looking across to see his friend, who lay unmoving with serious head and neck injuries.
''I thought he was dead,'' Mr Sekhon told Fairfax Media. ''I was looking at my friend, I was trying to look at him, but I couldn't … he was just lying on the ground,'' he said.
''I had blood coming from my nose and I had pain coming from the back of my head, so I touched my head and felt a cut and looked at my fingers and there was blood on my fingers.
''After that I don't remember much.''
Just moments earlier, the teenagers were walking home with two friends about 5.30am after a night out partying in Civic.
Chilling CCTV vision showed a white ute approach Mr Sekhon and Mr Han from behind, then appear to accelerate in the moments before the impact, police said.
Mr Sekhon, who had seen the footage, remembered turning an instant before the ute hit him and his friend.
Mr Han was still in a serious condition in a Sydney hospital, where he was understood to be in an induced coma, receiving specialist care for a broken neck.
A 35-year-old Harrison man, who had not been named, went to Gungahlin Police Station on Tuesday.
Police would not say whether he had confessed, but said they found the ute at his home and were doing forensic analysis on it.
The man had not been charged by late Wednesday night, and was not in police custody.
Mr Sekhon was released from Canberra Hospital on Sunday afternoon and said he was recovering well.
He counted himself lucky, saying he and Mr Han were just metres apart when the ute mowed them down.
''It could have been me,'' Mr Sekhon said.
''Before it happened we were both walking together and then I went in front. It could have been me at the back that got hit first.''
Police were investigating whether there was a link between the driver and the victim.
But Mr Sekhon said he had no clue who the driver was, or why he might have ran them down.
Acting Sergeant Graeme Cooper said there was a vast amount of information about the incident on social media, much of which was incorrect, including inaccurate reports there might have been a fight immediately before the crash.
Police said the man who handed himself in was being treated only as a suspect, and that the investigation was in its early stages.
Acting Sergeant Cooper warned the public against pre-judging the man, particularly on social media.
