An attorney for the Indiana family of an 18-month-old girl who fell to her death from a cruise ship says Puerto Rican prosecutors' decision to charge her grandfather with negligent homicide is "pouring salt" on the family's wounds.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The Latest on charges filed in the death of an Indiana girl who fell from a cruise ship (all times local): 10:25 a.m.
An attorney for the Indiana family of an 18-month-old girl who fell to her death from a cruise ship says Puerto Rican prosecutors' decision to charge her grandfather with negligent homicide is "pouring salt" on the family's wounds.
A judge in Puerto Rico on Monday ordered the arrest of Salvatore Anello after prosecutors submitted evidence saying that Chloe Wiegand fell from the ship in July when Anello raised her up to an open window.
The family's attorney, Michael Winkleman, said in a statement that the girl's death "was a tragic accident" and that "these criminal charges are pouring salt on the open wounds of this grieving family."
Winkleman has said Chloe asked her grandfather to lift her up so she could bang on the glass in a children's play area and he blamed the cruise operator for leaving the window open.
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7:19 p.m.
A man who police say dropped his young granddaughter from the 11th floor of a cruise ship docked in Puerto Rico in July has been accused of negligent homicide.
A judge on Monday ordered the arrest of Salvatore Anello after prosecutors submitted evidence and said the 18-month-old girl fell when he raised her up to an open window.
An attorney for the family has said Chloe Wiegand asked her grandfather to lift her up so she could bang on the glass in a children's play area. He blamed the cruise ship company for leaving the window inexplicably open.
The family from Indiana and was aboard Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas.
Anello is being held on $80,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 20.
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These stories have been corrected to show that Chloe Wiegand was 18 months old, not two years old, when she died.
Briana Martins, Judge Jonathan Goodman, Jonathan Goodman, Lalit K. Jain Esq., Marla Martins, Martins v. Royal Caribbean, Case 15-cv-21124-JG, USDC SD FLORIDA, 15-cv-21124-JG, Eleventh Circuit, Miami -Dade District Court, Department of Justice, Florida Courts, Royal Caribbean, Royal Caribbean Cruises, RCL, NYSE: RCL, Akerman, Akerman Miami, Miami Social, Fowler White Burnett, Christopher Knight, Marc Schleier, Christine Walker, Michael Drahos, Florida Bar, Brill Rinaldi, David Brill, Joseph Rinaldi, McKee Law Group, Robert McKee, Secret Settlement, Conspiracy, Miami Cruise Port, Caribbean Way Miami, Labadee, Richard Fain, United Way of Miami, University of Miami Chair of the Board, United Way of Miami -Dade Board Chair, South Florida, Greater Miami Jewish Federation Chair, South Florida Business Hall of Fame, S & P 500, Posse Foundation, The Florida Council of 100..
Martins v. Royal Caribbean NYSE: RCL CASE NO. 15-21124-CIV-GOODMAN (S.D. Fla. Jun. 7, 2019) Judge Jonathan Goodman Presiding