The family of a one-year-old girl who died after falling from a cruise ship in Puerto Rico is disputing the police description of the tragic incident.
Michael Winkleman, the lawyer for the family of Chloe Wiegand, told reporters on Tuesday that the girl’s grandfather had placed her along a ledge of windows where she could look out and hadn’t realized one of those windows was open.
“I've come to learn that apparently passengers can open up these windows, but here you have this hidden danger which is this one window that's open in a wall of windows,” Winkleman said.
Winkleman added that Chloe loved going to her brother’s hockey games back home in Indiana and would enjoy banging on the glass during the game.
“(The grandfather) has the terrible unfortunate misfortune to have put her up on a railing (by the windows),” Winkleman said. “She goes like she's going to bang on the glass at a hockey game and she's gone.”
Police in Puerto Rico said on Monday the toddler had apparently slipped from her grandfather’s arms and fell from the 11th storey of the Freedom of the Seas cruise ship while it was docked in San Juan following a week-long tour through the Caribbean.
Officers did mention, however, that they had yet to speak with any of the family members.
Winkleman, on the other hand, said he believes “there is significant blame on the cruise line.”
“I will do everything I can to hold them accountable for what appears to me to be negligence,” he told NBC News.
Royal Caribbean, the cruise company that owns the Freedom of the Seas, said it is “deeply saddened” by the incident and added their “hearts go out to the family,” but did not comment on the family’s allegations.
The family will remain in Puerto Rico until the investigation is complete.
