Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is back in the hospital today, recovering from yet another surgery to repair injuries he suffered in a motorcycle crash.

Shurtleff underwent surgery on Friday to fix a bent steel plate in his leg. Doctors added another plate to try and help repair the leg he shattered when he crashed a motorcycle in September, his office said.

"There's a good chance he's going to be back in a wheelchair for quite some time again," spokesman Paul Murphy told the Deseret Morning News.

He described Shurtleff's mood as upbeat, despite the circumstances.

"He said, 'They just keep adding more and more metal,"' Murphy said.

Shurtleff was practicing for a law enforcement charity motorcycle ride in September, when he hit a patch of gravel at a Lindon intersection and laid the Harley-Davidson down on top of him. The attorney general shattered his leg, tore the rotator cuff on his shoulder and cut his head above his eyebrow.

He said wearing a motorcycle helmet probably saved his life.

Shurtleff spent weeks recovering at home, and then began coming into his office for a few hours each day. At public events, he was often seen in a wheelchair and recently tried standing for extended periods of time with the aid of a crutch.

"He kept pushing himself and pushing himself," Murphy said.

Friday's surgery could put Shurtleff back to square one in his recovery efforts, with it taking weeks for him to start walking again.

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com