The story of a toddler, 18-month-old Chloe Wiegand, who died when she fell from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship in Puerto Rico on July 17, has gotten even more tragic, with reports indicating that the girl’s grandfather, Salvatore Anello, has now been charged over the incident.
The man is facing a charge of negligent homicide in the child’s death, and while the exact details of the story are still not clear, authorities seem to have a good reason to believe that he was the main person responsible for the little girl’s passing.
The toddler fell from the 11th floor of the ship all the way down to the concrete dock and died on the spot.
Shortly before her death, the girl reportedly asked her grandfather to lift her up so she could knock on the window of a play area for kids.
However, the window had been opened beforehand, which the grandfather did not know. The girl tried knocking on the window but instead fell right through.
Anello’s attorney, Michael Winkleman, said: “These criminal charges are pouring salt on the open wounds of this grieving family. Clearly, this was a tragic accident, and the family’s singular goal remains for something like this to never happen again. Had the cruise lines simply followed proper safety guidelines for windows, this accident likely would never have happened.”
Responses to the announcement of the grandfather getting charged with manslaughter have been decidedly mixed.
Most people seem to agree that the cruise company should be held responsible for what happened, not the grandfather.
Alan and Kimberly Wiegand, the parents of the child, blame the cruise line.
The mom revealed a few months ago: “We obviously blame them. We have a lot of questions. Why is there an open window in the kids’ area 11 stories up?”
Others are not so convinced, claiming that responsibility was pretty much equal in this case.
There have also been calls for the police to release more information about what happened, although this is not very likely to happen at this point, judging by the gravity of the situation.
In any case, it looks like the prosecution is final in their stance.
Anello will appear in court on November 20. He is being held on an $80,000 bond.
