The grandfather of an 18-month-old girl who died from the open window of a Royal Caribbean cruise ship last year pleaded guilty Thursday to negligence.
The ship was docked in San Juan, Puerto Rico in July 2019, when toddler Chloe Wieg and Nd fell out of an 11-story window while she was cared for by her grandfather, Salvatore llo Nello.
Llo Nello, also known as Sam, was indicted by Puerto Rican authorities in October 2019 and was not initially convicted. In February, he said he was to plead guilty so his family could move on from the tragedy.
Puerto Rico Department of Justice a Statement On Thursday, the judge accepted Anello’s application. He will be sentenced on December 10.
Michael Winkleman, the Wigand family’s attorney, said Thursday that the petition’s deal means that Anello, who lives in South Bend, Indiana, avoids prison time and can be granted probation in his home state.
He said the decision to change the application was “extremely difficult” for Anello and his family.
“But, since this petition agreement does not include jail time and does not include acceptance of facts, it was decided that this petition deal is in the best interests of the family so that they can close this horrible chapter and focus on Chloe’s grief and for cruise passengers.” Safety by raising awareness of the need for all general carriers to comply with window fall prevention laws designed to prevent children from falling out of a window, prosecutors said in a statement.
Chloe was with her mother in the Children’s Water Park area on the 11th deck of the pool. Her mother took a different approach and asked Anello to look after her, according to a lawsuit filed in December 2019 by the family against the Royal Caribbean Cruise.
The family alleges that the close ship company was responsible for Chloe’s death, a claim the company strongly denied. The Royal Caribbean did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.
In a July 2019 interview with “Today”, Clooney’s mother Kimberly Wiegand said the cruise line was guilty of “not having a safe situation” on the 11th floor pool deck.
“There are a million things that would have been done to protect it.” “I know my mom used to ask people, ‘Why on earth is the 11th floor window open without a screen or anything?’
The lawsuit alleges that when Chloe went to a nearby glass wall, Anello was “closely monitoring” her granddaughter. Anello followed and placed the young woman above the window so that she could slip on the glass but she slipped from his hand and fell out of the open window.
Analo has repeatedly said he did not know the window was open. In an interview with CBS last year, he said it is colored and suggests why it cannot distinguish between colored closed windows and open windows.
But the company responded that Grandpa “no doubt” knew the window was open.
To respond to a lawsuit filed in January, the cruise line includes a series of still images that are said to have been taken from a security video and show that Anello knew the window was open before he could catch his granddaughter.
“When he reaches the open window, and the claw is on the floor, Mr. Anello bends his torso over the wooden railing and around the window frame for about eight seconds.” “Because Mr. Anello himself tilted the window, he knows full well that the window is open.”
The attorneys for the Wiglam, Na, Wig and Nd family said the pictures were “misleading.”
Nicole Acevedo and the Associated Press Contributed.
