18 Month Old Baby Dies After Grandfather Dangles Her Over Cruise Ship Balcony

Grandad of Toddler Who Fell Out of Cruise Ship Window Sentenced to 3 Years Probation

Chloe Wiegand died in 2019 after falling through the window of a cruise ship docked in Puerto Rico

The sentence was passed downwards after Anello pleaded guilty to negligent homicide concluding yr in connection with the death of his 18-month-old granddaughter Chloe Wiegand, who died afterwards falling from the window in a children's play surface area of Purple Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas while the send docked in San Juan.

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In response to his sentencing, Anello said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE, "Later on this sentencing, I feel a mixture of anger and relief.  Relief that I will serve no jail time and that I did not have to admit any facts.  Relief for my family so that nosotros tin close this chapter and motility on together."

In a statement from the Puerto Rican Section of Justice previously obtained past PEOPLE, prosecutors alleged that Anello "negligently exposed the child to the abyss through a window on the 11th floor" of the cruise ship.

Anello and his family have long maintained that Chloe'southward fall was an blow and not a crime.

Following Anello's sentencing, the Anellos' attorney Michael Winkleman claimed in a statement obtained PEOPLE that "the genesis of the Puerto Rican authorities ultimately pressing criminal charges confronting Mr. Anello" was the ship's captain initially saying he saw Anello outside the window frame of the boat, earlier admitting under oath that Anello's torso was never outside the window frame.

"The discovery phase in the family unit'due south civil case against Majestic Caribbean has just completed and it bears noting that there is not a single slice of bear witness to back up the statement that Salvatore Anello was aware the window was open up," Winkleman added. "Instead, the evidence is clear that Mr. Anello made an honest fault, but because of Regal Caribbean's failure to take any steps to protect its youngest passengers, it turned into a fatal tragedy."

Chloe Wiegand

Chloe Wiegand

| Credit: Facebook

Anello took a plea deal with prosecutors last February "to attempt to assistance terminate part of this nightmare for my family," he said in a previous statement posted on Winkleman's website.

"I was focused on Chloe the whole time I was with her," he said in his argument. "As I walked with her I also saw that the ship deck was surrounded by a wall of glass. In my experience, any elevated public identify I've been with that much glass has always been a protective bulwark. …From my indicate of view, at the moment the accident happened, it was as if this wall of protective glass disappeared. I was in complete disbelief."

"It was a nightmare of the likes I could never have imagined earlier," he continued. "I wasn't drinking and I wasn't dangling her out of a window. I just wanted to knock on the drinking glass with her as we did together so many times before. I was just and then horribly wrong about our surroundings. I was placed in charge of keeping my beautiful granddaughter condom and I failed. It will always be a constant nightmare every mean solar day and every night for the balance of my life."

RELATED VIDEO: Family 'in Shock' After Babe Apparently Slips from Grandfather's Hands & Falls from Cruise Ship

Anello entered his guilty plea in Oct. In agreeing to the plea deal, he avoided jail time and agreed to serve probation in Southward Curve, Indiana, where he lives.

"This determination was an incredibly difficult 1 for Sam and the family, just because the plea agreement includes no jail time and no admission of facts, it was decided the plea deal is in the best interests of the family so that they can close this horrible affiliate and turn their focus to mourning Chloe and fighting for cruise passenger safety past raising awareness near the demand for all common carriers to attach to window fall prevention laws designed to protect children from falling from windows," Winkleman said in a previous statement obtained by PEOPLE.

Winkleman added in his statement obtained by PEOPLE Mon that "the Wiegand family is seeking sanctions against Imperial Caribbean for the destruction of disquisitional CCTV footage" and has "besides filed a Move for summary judgment and asks the Court to find that Imperial Caribbean is liable for this tragedy.  As argued in said motility, the bear witness is undisputed that Regal Caribbean was entirely aware of the precise hazard that led to Chloe'southward preventable expiry and however took no reasonable steps to prevent it."

"As to notice, a former Majestic Caribbean Chief Security Officer testified that this railing and these windows were a well-known hazard for years," Winkleman added. "And a former passenger testified about a almost fall incident that almost took the life of a minor child just 2 years prior to Chloe's death. Equally to liability, the record prove is similarly undisputed that Royal Caribbean area failed to follow the universally followed industry-standard of constant past window fall prevention codes."

"I feel angry at Royal Caribbean considering it is clear that these windows never should accept been allowed to take been opened in the first identify," Anello added in his statement Mon. "You can't go into a single hotel or building anywhere in the United states where windows this high up would exist allowed to be opened more than a few inches.  Nevertheless on this prowl transport, Royal Caribbean immune this window to be opened by anyone, at any time, right side by side to a kid's water park."

Adding that he had "no indication to me that some of the drinking glass panels in this wall of glass could even open up," Anello said he knows he "committed no offense," but "decided not to contest these charges" in order to focus on the civil suit against Majestic Caribbean.

"This is non case where an unknowing child approached an open window and vicious out because the window was defective or improperly positioned," Regal Caribbean argued in their own filing submitted Jan. 2020 that likewise aimed to dismiss the case, co-ordinate toThe Miami Herald. "(The Wiegands' attorneys) practice not dispute this fact. This is a instance were an adult knowingly lifted a toddler over 4 feet from the basis and placed her into an open window frame eleven decks above a pier."

PEOPLE is out to Royal Caribbean area for comment.

18 Month Old Baby Dies After Grandfather Dangles Her Over Cruise Ship Balcony

Source: https://people.com/crime/grandfather-toddler-who-fell-out-cruise-ship-window-sentenced/

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