Prosthetic eye pops out in court

An assault trial was disrupted in the US when the victim's prosthetic eye popped out as he was giving evidence.

John Huttick was crying as he testified about the impact of losing his eye in a fight in the car park of a Philadelphia bar.

Suddenly, his prosthetic blue eye popped out. Huttick caught it and cried out as jurors gasped and started to rise.

"I couldn't believe it just came out," Huttick said later, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Judge Robert Coleman, who called it an "unfortunate, unforeseen incident", granted a mistrial and scheduled a new trial for March.

Defendant Matthew Brunelli is accused of assaulting Mr Huttick by punching him in the eye, while allegedly holding a metal key.

Huttick, who's suing Brunelli, said he lost his job because of the injury and that depression drained his finances and nearly broke up his relationship.

"A year later," Huttick said, "I have no place to live, and I ran out of money."