Grandfather Charged In Death Of Toddler On Cruise Ship

Leeda.the.Paladin

Well-Known Member
The grandfather of a toddler who fell to her death on a cruise ship in July has been charged with negligent homicide in her death, Puerto Rican authorities said.

Salvatore "Sal" Anello was playing with the girl, Chloe Wiegand, on the 11th floor near a window while the ship was docked in Puerto Rico.
An attorney for the Indiana family has said Anello sat the girl on rails near the open window, thinking it was closed. Prosecutors allege that Anello "negligently exposed [his granddaughter] through one of the windows," according to a statement from the Puerto Rican Department of Justice.


Grandfather didn't dangle baby from cruise ship window. This is not the 'Michael Jackson story,' says family attorney

The San Juan judge "found cause for arrest against the accused, and imposed a bail of $80,000," the governor's office said.


Chloe's parents blamed the cruise line company, Royal Caribbean, after the accident, saying the window shouldn't have been open.
The criminal charges are "pouring salt on the open wounds of this grieving family," said Michael Winkleman, an attorney representing the family in a civil suit he's preparing against Royal Caribbean.
"Clearly this was a tragic accident and the family's singular goal remains for something like this to never happen again," Winkleman said in a statement.
It was not clear Monday night whether Anello had a criminal defense attorney.



The details of the toddler's death have been disputed since the accident. Port Authority officials said Anello sat the girl in the window and lost his balance, and the girl fell to her death.
Winkleman, however, told media that the toddler loved glass and windows, and her grandfather had placed her on a ledge by a glass wall, but had no idea one window within the wall was open.
Royal Caribbean "has still not given us the opportunity to view surveillance video they have of the incident," the attorney said.
Royal Caribbean said after the incident that it was "deeply saddened" by it, and that it had "assisted the authorities in San Juan with their inquiries."
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for November 20.
 

Sapphire Angel

Well-Known Member
The charge is appropriate. The grandfather WAS negligent. If he hadn’t held the child up, she would never be able to reach the window and would be alive. I saw pictures of the windows online. There’s no way someone in their right mind can’t distinguish between an open window and a closed window, especially tinted windows.

I suspect he was intoxicated. The cruise line is not at fault.

His story about letting the baby bang on the windows doesn’t make sense since the windows are floor to ceiling. That story only surfaced after they had legal counsel.

I would like to see the surveillance video. The whole scenario is weird. It’s so sad that this baby lost her life in this manner.
 

Keen

Well-Known Member
Yes it was negligent but I feel like it was an accident. I don't think the cruise ship is liable. You can't try to say the grandfather wasn't negligent but around and say the cruise was. The cruise did not expect someone to put a baby on the window. Just like the grandfather didn't expect the baby to fall.
 

Ms. Tarabotti

Well-Known Member
Sounds like negligence to me, what do they mean by the child loved glass and windows?

Are we giving little babies everything they love when we know that it can be bad for them.

Apparently the child 'loved to bang on the glass at her brothers hockey games'. The glass at the games is probably reinforced so that it doesn't shatter if a hockey puck crashes into it. Other windows might not be as reinforced. If someone held the child up to a window, she banged on it and the glass broke and cut her, would the parents still be trying to sue?

This was a terrible accident but it was caused by the grandfathers' negligence. I have also seen pictures of the area on board the ship where this occurred. The windows appear to be tinted so you can tell if they are open or not. Windows on ships can open for ventilation and fresh air. In order for that child to be able to reach the window that high, she would have to have been lifted up. Grandfather might not have been holding her to tightly and when she went to 'bang' on the window that wasn't there, she slipped through and fell. Grandfather is responsible for the accident. I'm thinking that he was charged to limit the liability of the cruise ship. If it can be proven that Grandpa and not the cruise ship was responsible for the child's death, the parents can't bring suit against the cruise line.

It's sad all around. I don't think that he'll serve any jail time and all of them will have to live with the guilt over this child's' death.
 

Leeda.the.Paladin

Well-Known Member
So I dont know the first thing about cruise ships and have never been on one.

But when I looked up the pictures of the windows, yes, they are tinted on the outside of the boat but they look the same when on the inside (at least from the pictures I saw). Also, hockey glass is reinforced but I darn well hope that the glass on a ship that potentially tosses and turns on the sea in high force winds are also reinforced. I honestly would not think twice if I saw a person letting their kid bang on the window (I dont let mine touch glass because I care about who has to clean it up). I would imagine that cruise ships would want that glass as clear as possible for the people inside the ship so that you could feel like you were outside.

 

Kanky

Well-Known Member
So I dont know the first thing about cruise ships and have never been on one.

But when I looked up the pictures of the windows, yes, they are tinted on the outside of the boat but they look the same when on the inside (at least from the pictures I saw). Also, hockey glass is reinforced but I darn well hope that the glass on a ship that potentially tosses and turns on the sea in high force winds are also reinforced. I honestly would not think twice if I saw a person letting their kid bang on the window (I dont let mine touch glass because I care about who has to clean it up). I would imagine that cruise ships would want that glass as clear as possible for the people inside the ship so that you could feel like you were outside.

The grandfather’s story makes more sense seeing these photos. The cruise company is probably hoping that he is convicted so that they don’t have to pay and change all of their windows.
 

Sapphire Angel

Well-Known Member
So I dont know the first thing about cruise ships and have never been on one.

But when I looked up the pictures of the windows, yes, they are tinted on the outside of the boat but they look the same when on the inside (at least from the pictures I saw). Also, hockey glass is reinforced but I darn well hope that the glass on a ship that potentially tosses and turns on the sea in high force winds are also reinforced. I honestly would not think twice if I saw a person letting their kid bang on the window (I dont let mine touch glass because I care about who has to clean it up). I would imagine that cruise ships would want that glass as clear as possible for the people inside the ship so that you could feel like you were outside.

You can feel a breeze coming through an open window as you approach it and you can hear noise from outside, so that still doesn’t make sense.
 

Leeda.the.Paladin

Well-Known Member
You can feel a breeze coming through an open window as you approach it and you can hear noise from outside, so that still doesn’t make sense.
Good point....Even when the boat is docked? Is there still a lot of noise that high up? The boat wasn’t moving. Again, I haven’t spent hardly any time on a big boat like that.
 

Leeda.the.Paladin

Well-Known Member
The grandfather’s story makes more sense seeing these photos. The cruise company is probably hoping that he is convicted so that they don’t have to pay and change all of their windows.
The situation at Disney when that baby got snatched by an alligator came to mind when I read about this. It was the parents fault in that case and they didnt sue, but Disney made some major changes because of what happened. I’m sure it would be even more costly for the cruise ships but still
 

Sapphire Angel

Well-Known Member
Good point....Even when the boat is docked? Is there still a lot of noise that high up? The boat wasn’t moving. Again, I haven’t spent hardly any time on a big boat like that.


Yes, it is. I love cruising. We go every year, but even if you’ve never been on a cruise just think about how clearly you hear outdoor sounds when a window is open in your home vs when it’s closed.
 

Laela

Sidestepping the "lynch mob"
Aw, man, kids and glass don't mix. This story reminds me of the 2 year old who was killed in a store because she was climbing a temporary wall in the store. While I feel sympathy for the family, something like that could've been avoided if she was being watched more closely. The store also is at fault for not securing its display, to avoid accidents. It's a sad situation all around, like with the cruise incident... they have to live with the deaths of the children.
 

Kanky

Well-Known Member
The situation at Disney when that baby got snatched by an alligator came to mind when I read about this. It was the parents fault in that case and they didnt sue, but Disney made some major changes because of what happened. I’m sure it would be even more costly for the cruise ships but still
I remember that. I felt sorry for the parents. They were from an area that didn’t have alligators and didn’t realize that in Florida there are alligators in anything deeper than a puddle. Disney put up “alligator” signs instead of “no swimming” signs. Last time we were there my kid asked me why Disney World has alligators now. :lol:
 

Crackers Phinn

Either A Blessing Or A Lesson.
Royal Caribbean: Video Shows Grandfather Knew Window Was Open Before Toddler’s Fatal Fall on Ship
POSTED 1:34 PM, JANUARY 17, 2020, BY ASSOCIATED PRESS, UPDATED AT 01:53PM, JANUARY 17, 2020

An Indiana man charged with negligent homicide in his young granddaughter’s fatal fall from a cruise ship’s open window in Puerto Rico leaned out of that window for several seconds before he lifted the child up to it and she fell, the cruise operator alleges in a court filing.

Royal Caribbean Cruises' Jan. 8 filing in U.S. District Court in Miami comes in response to a lawsuit t he parents of Chloe Wiegand filed in December, accusing the operator of negligence in her death by allowing an 11th floor window in the ship’s children's play area to be open.

Royal Caribbean, which is seeking the lawsuit’s dismissal, lays the blame for the child’s fatal fall on her 51-year-old grandfather, Salvatore Anello. He was charged last year in Puerto Rico with negligent homicide in her July 8 death.

In its filing, the company says that Anello, of Valparaiso, Indiana, was "reckless and irresponsible" in his granddaughter’s fall from the open window on Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas ship.

It says surveillance video on the ship shows Anello leaning out of the open window for about eight seconds just moments before he lifted his granddaughter, who would have turned 2 in December, up to the window, from which she fell to the dock far below.

"This is a case about an adult man, who, as surveillance footage unquestionably confirms: (1) walked up to a window he was aware was open; (2) leaned his upper body out the window for several seconds; (3) reached down and picked up Chloe; and (4) then held her by and out of the open window for thirty four seconds before he lost his grip and dropped Chloe out of the window,” the court filing states.

"His actions, which no reasonable person could have foreseen, were reckless and irresponsible and the sole reason why Chloe is no longer with her parents," the cruise line said.

Michael Winkleman, an attorney for the girl's family, said that Royal Caribbean's motion is “baseless and deceptive,” The Indianapolis Star reported.

Anello has insisted that he did not know the window was open when he lifted Chloe to the window, saying he did so to allow her to bang on the glass like she did at her brother's hockey games. He told “CBS This Morning” in November that he was trying to stand Chloe on the window’s railing when she plunged from the open window. He also said he’s colorblind and that may be why he didn’t realize the tinted window was open.

“I just never saw it. I’ve been told that that’s a reason it might have happened,” he said, referring to the eyesight condition.

Anello’s attorney, José G. Pérez Ortiz, told The Indianapolis Star in November that surveillance video of the incident is consistent with the grandfather’s assertion that he believed the window was closed.

“My client thought that the window was closed,” Ortiz said. “Nothing in the video is inconsistent.”

A spokeswoman for Royal Caribbean Cruises, Melissa Charbonneau, said in a statement Friday that the girl's death was “undeniably a heartbreaking tragedy that has prompted a criminal prosecution of Chloe’s step-grandfather and a civil lawsuit brought by the Wiegand family attorneys."


Photo from court documents filed on January 8, 2020 by Royal Caribbean Cruises in the United States District Court of Southern Florida


Photo from court documents filed on January 8, 2020 by Royal Caribbean Cruises in the United States District Court of Southern Florida


Photo from court documents filed on January 8, 2020 by Royal Caribbean Cruises in the United States District Court of Southern Florida



 

Theresamonet

Well-Known Member
Royal Caribbean: Video Shows Grandfather Knew Window Was Open Before Toddler’s Fatal Fall on Ship
POSTED 1:34 PM, JANUARY 17, 2020, BY ASSOCIATED PRESS, UPDATED AT 01:53PM, JANUARY 17, 2020

An Indiana man charged with negligent homicide in his young granddaughter’s fatal fall from a cruise ship’s open window in Puerto Rico leaned out of that window for several seconds before he lifted the child up to it and she fell, the cruise operator alleges in a court filing.

Royal Caribbean Cruises' Jan. 8 filing in U.S. District Court in Miami comes in response to a lawsuit t he parents of Chloe Wiegand filed in December, accusing the operator of negligence in her death by allowing an 11th floor window in the ship’s children's play area to be open.

Royal Caribbean, which is seeking the lawsuit’s dismissal, lays the blame for the child’s fatal fall on her 51-year-old grandfather, Salvatore Anello. He was charged last year in Puerto Rico with negligent homicide in her July 8 death.

In its filing, the company says that Anello, of Valparaiso, Indiana, was "reckless and irresponsible" in his granddaughter’s fall from the open window on Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas ship.

It says surveillance video on the ship shows Anello leaning out of the open window for about eight seconds just moments before he lifted his granddaughter, who would have turned 2 in December, up to the window, from which she fell to the dock far below.

"This is a case about an adult man, who, as surveillance footage unquestionably confirms: (1) walked up to a window he was aware was open; (2) leaned his upper body out the window for several seconds; (3) reached down and picked up Chloe; and (4) then held her by and out of the open window for thirty four seconds before he lost his grip and dropped Chloe out of the window,” the court filing states.

"His actions, which no reasonable person could have foreseen, were reckless and irresponsible and the sole reason why Chloe is no longer with her parents," the cruise line said.

Michael Winkleman, an attorney for the girl's family, said that Royal Caribbean's motion is “baseless and deceptive,” The Indianapolis Star reported.

Anello has insisted that he did not know the window was open when he lifted Chloe to the window, saying he did so to allow her to bang on the glass like she did at her brother's hockey games. He told “CBS This Morning” in November that he was trying to stand Chloe on the window’s railing when she plunged from the open window. He also said he’s colorblind and that may be why he didn’t realize the tinted window was open.

“I just never saw it. I’ve been told that that’s a reason it might have happened,” he said, referring to the eyesight condition.

Anello’s attorney, José G. Pérez Ortiz, told The Indianapolis Star in November that surveillance video of the incident is consistent with the grandfather’s assertion that he believed the window was closed.

“My client thought that the window was closed,” Ortiz said. “Nothing in the video is inconsistent.”

A spokeswoman for Royal Caribbean Cruises, Melissa Charbonneau, said in a statement Friday that the girl's death was “undeniably a heartbreaking tragedy that has prompted a criminal prosecution of Chloe’s step-grandfather and a civil lawsuit brought by the Wiegand family attorneys."


Photo from court documents filed on January 8, 2020 by Royal Caribbean Cruises in the United States District Court of Southern Florida


Photo from court documents filed on January 8, 2020 by Royal Caribbean Cruises in the United States District Court of Southern Florida


Photo from court documents filed on January 8, 2020 by Royal Caribbean Cruises in the United States District Court of Southern Florida





Wow.

His lying ass. Send him straight to jail.
 
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