SAN DIEGO — A U.S. Naval Academy student is suing the City of San Diego after being run over by a lifeguard jet ski while swimming off La Jolla cove.
The Torrey Pines High School graduate was knocked unconscious and nearly drowned during he collision on December 26, 2023.
“I was home from the Naval Academy for winter break, and it's the day after Christmas. So, I was going for a swim in La Jolla Cove,” said Ali Polidori.
The 19-year-old grew up loving the water. She was a competitive diver, a triathlete, and a state of California lifeguard when the incident off La Jolla Cove suddenly changed her life.
“I see the buoy. I'm swimming towards it and the next thing I know, I wake up in the ICU. I'm in the hospital with tubes down my throat and I couldn't speak,” said Polidori.
Polidori said she was wearing a bright yellow swimming cap to be safe. “It was a lifeguard jet ski that hit me in the back of the head. I got seven staples on the cut that I got. Then, after they hit me, I sank about 20 feet below the surface,” said Polidori.
Polidori said she was unconscious and underwater for about 45 seconds. One of the two female lifeguards on the jet ski rescued her.
After that, Polidori said she never heard from the city again. “I can't, like, almost die and then not do anything about it,” she said.
In January, Polidori’s attorney filed a $3 million claim against the City of San Diego. Earlier this week, she filed a lawsuit.
“The negligence is not looking for swimmers in a swimming area and going far, far too fast. She was going approximately 25 miles per hour in a zone that you really shouldn't be going more than five miles per hour,” said the attorney, Rachal Fiset.
The city won't comment on pending litigation. A police investigation found the lifeguards were responding to an emergency call of a swimmer in distress at the time of the collision.
“They were responding to another incident that may not have been life threatening, and in responding to that incident, they created a life threatening incident,” said Fiset.
“Coming back to school, emotionally, it was hard to readjust, because I jumped back in like normal, but I wasn't quite normal,” said Polidori.
Polidori once thought about joining the Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal team, but now that might change. “I will always love the ocean, but this has given me a different view on it. I just tread cautiously,” said Polidori.
The teenager is set to graduate from the Naval Academy in 2026. She said she plans to join either the Navy or the U.S. Marines.
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