SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - A San Diego man was reunited with his $50,000 computerized prosthetic leg after he lost it while jet skiing in San Diego Bay.
Port of San Diego Harbor Police divers recovered the leg at the bottom of the bay nearly 24 hours after it sank.
On Sunday, Max O’Brien said he was forced to go over several large wakes near the USS Midway Museum when his right leg lost suction and fell off the back of the jet ski.
“Oh man, if this thing doesn’t come back, I’m out of pocket like 50-grand,” said O’Brien.
Harbor Police Diver Steve Bailey happened to come by in a boat as O’Brien was trying to navigate back to shore.
Bailey said he moved a planned training dive scheduled for Monday down to where O’Brien said he lost his leg.
“A little unique,” said Officer Bailey. “It’s the first time we’ve actually gone on a dive looking for a prosthetic.”
O’Brien said he lost the leg four years ago in a violent motorcycle accident. It took him a year and five rejections from insurance agencies before he got his prosthetic leg.
Bailey said it was like finding a needle in a haystack through the bay’s murky waters.
“It was maybe two-foot of visibility,” he said.
Bailey said he found the leg 45-minutes into his dive thanks to the shoes O’Brien was wearing Sunday.
“Thankfully he had a bright orange shoe or I never would have saw it,” said Bailey.
Harbor Police were able to get the leg back to O’Brien who was surprised the sensitive electronics still worked despite spending the night in the bay.
