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Dive team saves Oakland County man’s prosthetic leg that sank in Milford lake

Dive team saves prosthetic leg (Oakland County Sheriff’s Office)

MILFORD TWP, Mich. – A sheriff’s dive team helped a Metro Detroit man after his $80,000 prosthetic leg sank to the bottom of a Michigan lake.

According to a release, Brandon Smith and his 6-year-old son were enjoying a float on their raft in Sunrise Lake, located in Milford Township. Officials say that somehow the prosthetic limb separated and sank nearly 50 feet to the bottom of the lake.

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The family called the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, and within an hour of being on the lake, the dive team was able to locate and recover the prosthesis in good condition.

Smith’s father-in-law Jim McIntosh told officials that Smith had fallen from a tree while hunting six years ago. Since then, Smith has had 17 surgeries.

“Our dive team does an amazing job in a variety of conditions and circumstances,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said in the release. “In this incident, they were able to make a big quality of life difference for this gentleman who obviously would be greatly negatively impacted by the loss of his prosthetic leg. I’m proud of their work every day and especially in this circumstance.”


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