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A CCTV video of the tragic cruise ship death of the 18-month old girl, when she fell out of an open window on an upper level, has been aired on a Puerto Rican TV show.

The Grandfather of the little girl, Chloe Wiegand, has been charged with negligent homicide following the death of his granddaughter in July this year.

The lawyer for grandfather, Sam Anello, has said that the prosecutors have offered him a plea deal, as reported in 10 Daily.

The leaked footage appears to show Mr Anello lifting little Chloe up to the open window of Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of The Seas, as it was docked in Puerto Rico.

Mr Anello has maintained that he thought the window was closed but prosecutors claim that the video shows that the grandfather’s actions were indeed reckless.

chlose wiegand with grandfather anello
Chloe Wiegand with her grandfather. Pic: CBS News

 

Appalled!

The Wiegand family is appalled that the surveillance video had been released to the public saying:

“The family is shocked by the deplorable and disgraceful misconduct that led to the release of this footage. The family’s sole motivation for not releasing the video was to protect their older child. That motivation has not changed. The family publicly asks the Puerto Rican authorities, why was this footage released? Why do you continue to inflict such heinous emotional distress on our family? Haven’t we been punished enough by the loss of Chloe? Finally, the family requests an immediate, independent investigation done into the circumstances surrounding the leak.”

Guilty!

Attorney General Dennise Longo Quiñones spoke to CBS News commenting: “We are unaware of how Kobbo Santarrosa obtained the video of the unfortunate incident where Chloe Wiegand lost her life. A careful review of said video confirms, however that Salvatore Anello is guilty of negligent homicide as charged.”

“The evidence collected in this case corroborates his criminal responsibility. We hope and expect Chloe’s family fully cooperates with our proceedings and that justice prevails in this case with conviction.”

Plea Deal

There has been no official plea deal as yet, but Mr Anello’s attorney has said that the grandfather would need to plead guilty to negligent homicide in the death of Chloe Wiegand.

In return, Mr Anello would forgo imprisonment and get minimum probation and supervision.

The trial is ongoing.

The leaked surveillance footage can be seen below.

Do you think the grandfather was negligent? Tell us in the comments below.

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  • Oh wow…. I was not aware of this footage but it certainly explains a dew things. A case of bad judgement on the grandfathers part. A bit like a Michael Jackson moment when he dangled the bub of the hotel railing.

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  • The grandfather was definitely negligent.. this is devastating. That poor darling girl so sad

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  • I’s not clear enough to know what happened from the video

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  • That is so sad…the poor family. My Heart breaks for them.

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  • I’ve subsequently seen the video, and I can kind of see why they released it: the grandfather was clearly lying about what happened.

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  • Such a tragic loss of a young life.

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  • This is a shocking situation. It’s bad enough that the parents have lost their baby daughter but to have this video aired is just appalling.

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  • I cannot imagine what this family is going through, hard enough to loose their daughter/granddaugther but to then have speculation cast as to if the grandfather was negligent could only cause the family much more pain and torment.

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  • I can understand the video being used as evidence in court but it should have been released in the media unless permission was given.
    It happens too often in Australia too, including patients being loaded into ambulance and being shown on TV before Police or Hospital had time to contact the next of kin. They saw it on TV as a news flash. They rang the hospital themselves and initially couldn’t get any information. The Police were more concerned about getting the guy to hospital before looking for ID details.

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  • I feel so sad for this family. Tragedy for all of them.

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  • Such a tragedy it is so hard on the family I can imagine without everyone else putting in their 2 cents in.

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  • The poor family has suffered enough, without us speculating on whether there was negligence

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  • oh goodness this is so sad

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  • This is so sad for the whole family and horrible that the pain remains worsened by the leaked footage, which I don’t this MoM should be encouraging it’s readers to watch.


    • Yes I’ve wondered too when every one is shocked the footage is leaked, why is it shown here ?

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  • Such a tragic event for the whole family.

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