SAN DIEGO — A teenager who had three fingers severed from her hand during a bloody jet ski incident in Mission Bay in 2022 is suing the Mission Bay Aquatic Center for negligence.
'The Watersports Camp'
Keira Doishi was a 15-year-old “counselor in training” at Mission Bay Aquatic Center in July 2022. According to the lawsuit filed on Feb. 5, Doishi was sitting on the back of a jet ski when three of her fingers were violently ripped from her hand by a towline as she helped tow wakeboarders on Mission Bay.
Mission Bay Aquatic Center, which is owned and operated by San Diego State University, is now being sued by 17-year-old Doishi and her family.
'Unqualified, inexperienced'
The lawsuit details that Doishi, who had no jet ski training, was asked by jet ski operator, 18-year-old Mission Bay Aquatic Center employee Nicholas Cox, to maintain the jet ski tow line as it pulled wakeboarders.
Cox suddenly accelerated without warning which caused the tow line to drag three of Doishi’s fingers at 15 mph for 4-5 seconds before they were “violently ripped from her hand," the lawsuit reads.
All three of Doishi's fingers were later found in the water, wrapped in the tow line in Mission Bay.
Doishi was forced to amputate three fingers from her left hand, her ring, middle and index fingers. Surgeons attempted to reattach the severed fingers, but two of the three fingers could not be saved.
Brett Schreiber, attorney representing the Doishi family said in a statement to CBS 8,
“The incident at the Watersports Camp at Mission Bay Aquatic Center was a horrifying and tragic experience for Keira and her family. The camp knowingly put Keira in danger by allowing an unqualified and untrained teenager to drive the jetski, leading to a life-changing injury,” said Schreiber. “The camp and affiliated organizations must be held accountable and make real changes to their camp’s safety procedures.”
The lawsuit alleges Cox was unqualified, inexperienced, and had “approximately four hours total” of jet ski operating experience.
'I wouldn't feel very comfortable'
Mission Bay Aquatic Center instructional manager Paul Lang warned of the danger of using jet skis to tow wakeboarders in a text message exchange with the center’s director Kevin Straw one day before the incident.
Lang warned that “very little” jet ski training was conducted at Mission Bay Aquatic Center and he didn’t feel very “comfortable” with people operating the vessels.
Despite the warning from Lang, a day later Straw asked Cox to operate a jet ski to tow wakeboarders and asked Doishi to act as an observer which required her to ride on the back of the jet ski.
Mission Bay Aquatic Center said in a statement to CBS 8,
"The Mission Bay Aquatic Center (MBAC), a provider of water sports and education to the community for over 50 years with a strong and continuing commitment to safety, is aware of the accident that occurred during the summer of 2022, and as this matter involves a program participant and pending litigation, MBAC cannot provide any further comment."
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