Authorities have arrested the grandfather of an 18-month-old who fell out of a window on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship in Puerto Rico during a family trip in July. Puerto Rico’s Justice Department ordered the arrest of Salvatore Anello. He faces a charge of negligent manslaughter in the death of his granddaughter, Chloe Wiegand. While the vessel was docked in San Juan, Anello placed Chloe near an open window he thought was closed when her family said she fell out of the ship’s 11th story.
Michael Winkleman of Lipcon, Margulies, Alsina & Winkleman P.A., who is representing the family in a planned civil lawsuit, said in a statement: “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.”
Chloe’s parents, Alan and Kimberly Wiegand, said they didn’t understand why there would be an open window so high up on the ship and that the cruise line created “a tremendous safety hazard that cost our child her life.”
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