This is just so sad,,and makes me ask WHY would someone do this?? I don't call it 'playing'??

[fly girl]

He's not Chloe's grandfather. He's married to her grandmother, but he's not her mother's father.

Adult men (and women), even those that are parents, have been responsible for some horrific acts against children. I don't find it out of the realm of possibility that this was intentional.

My parents divorced when I was in college. Both have remarried, and I am very lucky to like both of their spouses. My child refers to both of them as Grandma and Grandpa. My daughter knows who my biological mom and dad are, but it’s irrelevant to how much she loves all of them. DNA means nothing in this case. He is her grandfather.

The parents of Chloe even said they were best friends. This happened on a public portion of a cruise ship in broad daylight where anyone could see. I would be flabbergasted and shocked if this had any foul play or malicious intentions. I think it was a horrible freak accident.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I actually believe the first story told, but not that he was dangling the child out the window. I believe he picked her up to look out of the open window, she squirmed & he lost his grip. To me, that's the most logical explanation. If you were the grandparent, would you want to admit to your child that you knew that window was open? If your DD came up with the closed window/banging on glass story, of course you'd want to go with that.

Like, he put her on the railing and had his arm(s) around her, and she reached out to bang on the window - but of course there was no glass and momentum carried her forward before Sam could grab tighter?

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Like, he put her on the railing and had his arm(s) around her, and she reached out to bang on the window - but of course there was no glass and momentum carried her forward before Sam could grab tighter?

That's not how I imagine it happened, but it's possible. It's more likely than him not knowing the window was open. I find him thinking the window was closed impossible to believe.

 

[John VN]

Like, he put her on the railing and had his arm(s) around her, and she reached out to bang on the window - but of course there was no glass and momentum carried her forward before Sam could grab tighter?

That's not how I imagine it happened, but it's possible. It's more likely than him not knowing the window was open. I find him thinking the window was closed impossible to believe.

Agree with both above.

 

[zippy2]

Like, he put her on the railing and had his arm(s) around her, and she reached out to bang on the window - but of course there was no glass and momentum carried her forward before Sam could grab tighter?

That’s what I think happened. She suddenly leaned forward and he lost his grip.

 

[mummabear]

Puerto Rico is part of the US. Maybe you already knew this and you meant something else that I didn't understand.

I know which is why I put foriegn in " ".
It is part if the US but they have their own separate judicial system.

 

[fly girl]

Like, he put her on the railing and had his arm(s) around her, and she reached out to bang on the window - but of course there was no glass and momentum carried her forward before Sam could grab tighter?

That's not how I imagine it happened, but it's possible. It's more likely than him not knowing the window was open. I find him thinking the window was closed impossible to believe.

That’s what I think happened. She suddenly leaned forward and he lost his grip.

My best guess...

I think he was holding her from behind, and used the railing as additional support, for her to look out. She leaned forward (being a baby she didn't know it was open) and with that 6" gap between the railing and window, her momentum and force was too much for Grandpa to hold on. He lost his grip. I can't explain why he thought window was closed. His mind likely blocked out the moment, leading to different stories. I bet one thing is for sure, it happened so fast he could never really get a clear explanation on what happened.

I feel so sorry for him.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Call me cynical, skeptical, unsympathetic, whatever other insult you want. I feel worse for the grandfather. The mother, while devastated, seemed to me to be almost rehearsed or acting, or at least coached, on The Today Show.

 

[Searc]

Call me cynical, skeptical, unsympathetic, whatever other insult you want. I feel worse for the grandfather. The mother, while devastated, seemed to me to be almost rehearsed or acting, or at least coached, on The Today Show.

The mother is a criminal defense attorney. Take that how you wish.

 

[sam_gordon]

The mother is a criminal defense attorney. Take that how you wish.

I thought she was a prosecutor.

 

[Searc]

I thought she was a prosecutor.

Hmm, not sure. If she is, there is more than one lawyer with her exact name.

 

[DLgal]

Call me cynical, skeptical, unsympathetic, whatever other insult you want. I feel worse for the grandfather. The mother, while devastated, seemed to me to be almost rehearsed or acting, or at least coached, on The Today Show.

I didn't want to be the first to say it. I found her tears/crying to be almost forced. I felt the dad was more genuine, as he stayed mostly silent, but seemed to be trying very hard to not completely break down.

 

[gwynne]

I thought she was a prosecutor.

Hmm, not sure. If she is, there is more than one lawyer with her exact name.

A couple of articles I read list her as "a former deputy prosecutor".
So I think she was a prosecutor, and then moved on to another legal area.

 

[robinb]

A couple of articles I read list her as "a former deputy prosecutor".
So I think she was a prosecutor, and then moved on to another legal area.

That would explain why they hired a lawyer right away. When you're a hammer, everything is a nail.

 

[RedAngie]

I actually believe the first story told, but not that he was dangling the child out the window. I believe he picked her up to look out of the open window, she squirmed & he lost his grip. To me, that's the most logical explanation. If you were the grandparent, would you want to admit to your child that you knew that window was open? If your DD came up with the closed window/banging on glass story, of course you'd want to go with that.

No, I never believed the dangling the child out of the window reports. Perhaps some people on the dock saw the child slipping out of the grandfather's grasp as he was trying to stop her from falling and interpreted that as dangling.

 

[kdonnel]

Perhaps all the cruise lines should post some derivative of this sign?

 

[TeresaBelle]

I think had this gone to court they would have found that a reasonable visitor to WDW would not have been aware of the danger.
My kids have put their feet in the water there several times, toddlers getting nored while we were watching the movie.
Given that Disney was hosting activities on the waterline, that there had previously been swimming in the water and that it was a man made lake I assummed the no swimming signs had to do either the danger of boat traffic.
We are frequent visitors to Australia, and there even in public areas (beaches etc) there are warnings about sharks and crocodiles.
Canada certainly has bear warnings around.
Plenty of state parks in the US where they put warnings about snakes, alligators, bears etc
I wouldnt put any of the blame on the parents in that at all. Had the signs said danger alligators rather than no swimming Lane would be alive.


Nope this would have done it:
View attachment 420693

My guess is though that Disney didnt want to ruin the image of the beaches.


I am sure they would need to be careful how they did it, but I would respect them releasing as statement defending themselves and their ships.
And calling out The Today Show in particular for failing to meet basic journalistic principles.


I do believe he put her to the window knowing it was open.
What and what happened next I dont know.
I have said before and it is pure speculation, but the words "he was playing a game" and "rocking/swaying" have all been used and I would put money on a game of whoops gonna drop ya.
It is what makes the most sense to me given all the information we have, admittedly it is complete conjecture.
But it makes more sense that he put her on a rail so she could bang on the window that I thought was closed even though she could do that at ground level.
Now I am not sure of he needs to be prosecuted, I think that is largely up to the parents wishes. But I am 100% RCL has no liability.

The bolded isn't necessarily true. I live near a scenic waterfall that has these signs posted. I've seen parents put their kids over the safety railing to take photographs! Not saying that Lane's parents would have ignored alligator warning signs, but sometimes even clear signage doesn't protect people from their own stupidity.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The bolded isn't necessarily true. I live near a scenic waterfall that has these signs posted. I've seen parents put their kids over the safety railing to take photographs! Not saying that Lane's parents would have ignored alligator warning signs, but sometimes even clear signage doesn't protect people from their own stupidity.

View attachment 421244

People don't pay attention to road closed signs either like in times of flooding and drive on through a road that is flooded just to give another example.

Heck we even had things on the news stories showing mostly truckers who hated that I-29 was closed for an extended time due to flooding and they just up and got out of their truck, physically moved the road closed signs and drove on through sometimes not even replacing the road closed signs back up again. Mostly they were upset that the highway was closed well beyond the flood zone but that was because the towns along the way that acted like detours for more local people would have been completely swamped with too much traffic so the decision was to close the highway further down from the flood zone.

I don't disagree with signs being placed about for various reasons but it's a false sense of possible outcomes to state with certainty someone would not have ignored the signs and done whatever activity or disregarded whatever precaution/warning was listed.

 

[mummabear]

I don't disagree with signs being placed about for various reasons but it's a false sense of possible outcomes to state with certainty someone would not have ignored the signs and done whatever activity or disregarded whatever precaution/warning was listed.

You are right, there are always idiots.
I can say with certainty that my kids wouldn't have been near the water, alligators/crocodiles and snakes are the stuff of my nightmares, I get frightened looking at pictures of them.

I was angry at Disney, that because there was no warning signs that my kids had been in danger.

We can't say for sure that Lanes family would have heeded the warnings, although I give them the benefit of the doubt they would have.
We can say though that Disney would have significantly reduced their liability if they had.

 

[mummabear]

Call me cynical, skeptical, unsympathetic, whatever other insult you want. I feel worse for the grandfather. The mother, while devastated, seemed to me to be almost rehearsed or acting, or at least coached, on The Today Show.

I give her the benefit of the doubt that in the time if extreme grief we can handle ourselves differently to how people thi I we should. It is possible she looked rehearsed because she was rehearsed trying not manage it, to not break down.
It is possible here way to handle her grief is by focusing on "jobs" that "need" to get done.
I have no doubt that she will beside herself.

That is not to say I agree at all with her going on the show or anything she had to say. Just not going to nitpick her demeanor on it.