The parents of 18-month-old Chloe Wiegland, who fell from an open window while onboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship in July, announced Wednesday that they will be suing the cruise line after their toddler's death. Kim and Alan Wiegand of Granger, Indiana, hope to hold the cruise line responsible, saying the company failed to take proper safety precautions that ultimately resulted in their daughter's death.
Chloe's grandfather was holding the little girl before her death, and has been charged with negligent homicide after the July 7 accident.
At the time of the unthinkable tragedy, Chloe's family was vacationing on Royal Caribbean's ship called Freedom of the Seas, and were docked in San Juan, Porto Rico. Kimberly and Alan had been with Chloe, their 11-year-old son, Chloe's grandmother, and grandfather 51-year-old Salvatore "Sal" Anello in a children's play area on the 11th floor, when Anello walked over to a wall of glass panels that overlooked the water.
Chloe reportedly asked Anello to pick her up and, believing that the toddler was protected by a wall of glass, he placed her on a railing that lined the wall. Unfortunately, Anello misjudged the situation completely; there was no glass in the panel in front of Chloe. It had been removed, in effect creating an open-air window that led directly to the outside.
According to family, Chloe was used was used to banging on the glass at her brother's hockey games.
It's believed she tried something similar on this day, but when she leaned to where she thought there was glass, she fell.
The 115-foot drop killed the girl when she hit the concrete platform below. Witnesses at the scene recalled hearing the mother let out a primal scream, which could be heard throughout the cruise deck.
"I didn't know that she went out a window,'' Kimberly shared with Savannah Guthrie at the time. "And I just kept saying, 'Take me to my baby. Where's my baby?' I didn't even notice a window. I ran over there, and I looked over, and it wasn't water down there, it was concrete. To lose our baby this way is just unfathomable.
"This one mother just came and held me and embraced me and I'll never forget it," she continued. "She just said, 'God, watch over this family.' I just want to thank her. I don't know where she is or who she is."
Meanwhile, Chloe's grandfather has maintained that he had no idea there wasn't a glass panel in front of his granddaughter before she fell.
"The thing that he has repeatedly told us is 'I believed that there was glass,'" she continued. "He will cry over and over and over. … She was his best friend."
Prosectors in Puerto Rico disagree with the grandfather's claim, arguing that he negligently exposed Chloe to the open window.
Initial reports claimed that Anello had been "dangling" Chloe out the open window, and the Associated Press later reported that he told police that he "lost his grip" while holding Chloe outside the window. But his lawyer, José G. Pérez Ortiz, refuted those claims.
"What IÂ saw with the video, it's pretty consistent with what my client has told me," Ortiz told the IndyStar. "My client thought that the window was closed. Nothing in the video is inconsistent."
"[Anello] negligently exposed the child to the abyss through a window on the 11th floor of the cruise ship," Puerto Rico Attorney General Dennise N. Longo Quiñones and other officials said in an October 28 news release.
He was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor in Puerto Rico, but negligent homicide carries the same penalty as a fourth-degree felony. Anello was released after posting an $80,000 bond. If convicted, he could face up to three years in prison.
"The family is crushed. Utterly crushed," the Wieglands' lawyer, Michael Winkleman, said in October. "I think they were doing their best to really start the process of grieving for the months since the incident, since the tragedy happened, and I think they were really doing their best to keep it together for their 11-year-old son."
The Wieglands filed their lawsuit against Royal Caribbean cruise line this week, charging that the company should be held responsible.
In a press conference, Kimberley shared that she should be planning her daughter's second birthday, reports IndyStar, which would have been this Friday.
"We should be celebrating with presents and a birthday cake, but instead we are talking about her death,â she said. "I spend my evenings visiting with her urn instead of rocking my little girl to sleep."
The parents said they are filing the lawsuit to hold the cruise line responsible because it failed to keep passengers safe from deceptively dangerous windows.
âRoyal Caribbean played a major role in the death of our child,â Kimberely explained. âThe only people who can really understand this pain are other parents who … have lost a child. It is 10 times worse than you could ever imagine.â
âThis is not some freak accident,â Winkleman told NBC News. âThis is something that was a preventable accident. These windows are entirely not compliant with the standard for windows on cruise ships,â he said.
âCarnival and [Norwegian Cruise Line] and even newer Royal Caribbean cruise ships have windows that are wholly compliant with these window fall prevention codes,â he added. Unfortunately, the ship that Chloe was on did not.
The Wieglands are seeking an unspecified amount in damages for their daughter's death, and in the lawsuit, which was filed in Miami, they claim that the company failed to âprovide reasonably safe children entertainment areas,â failed to âadequately mark the open windows,â and failed to âinstall safety prevention devices on windows,â along with other grievances.
Royal Caribbean has yet to comment on the lawsuit.
