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

[HopperFan]

She is very one sided, you maybe onto something.

And I think @sam_gordon was agreeing with you that CatG was a plant put there by the family or their lawyer.

OH ... I get how you read it. Thanks. I thought they meant the information that she was repeating was what the lawyer said, not what the family is saying.

Yes, that is what I meant; she is a plant in the conversation from the family or lawyer. A relative, friend or whatever. Would not be unusual when you can participate without a real identity.

 

[ndelaware]

I read them ...

Either she is a troll, has hatred for RCCL, or is just an idiot. (Or combo of all 3!) Regardless, she keeps repeating there is no video for the public. Umm . . . yes there is!

I vote "idiot" . Since when is 4 feet very low for a window? Four feet on most people is up to their arm pits.

As to the video, my wife was squarely on the family's/grandfather's side when this first happened. Then she saw the video and instantly knew the grandfather was to blame.

 

[mummabear]

Family responds to the cruise's video...

https://www.usnews.com/news/us/arti...ly-impossible-to-lean-from-cruise-ship-window
TLDR: Family attorney now says it's impossible for the grandfather to lean out the window due to the distance between the window frame and railing.

Confused why they put out this statement. Sounds like to me that enough safety precautions were put in place that even an adult couldn't lean out the window, let alone a child

Wow "has created a false narrative" is pretty rich coming from the lawyer who stated the windows were in a childs play area.

I really wish they would stop citing this: "saying he did so to allow her to bang on the glass like she did at her brother's hockey games." In the picture of her banging on the glass at the hockey game, she is standing on the floor. Not comparable.

If he couldn't reach the glass when leaning over, why the heck would he hold her up there to bang on the glass that's too far to reach?

He leaned over the railing and the window was too far away for him to lean out of or notice it was open but somehow the baby could reach it with her arms that are a fraction of the length of grandpa's entire torso and head?

Exactly kaytieeldr! As Moliphino and TheIncredibles! have pointed out their argument is non sensical.

 

[ronandannette]

Family responds to the cruise's video...

https://www.usnews.com/news/us/arti...ly-impossible-to-lean-from-cruise-ship-window
TLDR: Family attorney now says it's impossible for the grandfather to lean out the window due to the distance between the window frame and railing.

Confused why they put out this statement. Sounds like to me that enough safety precautions were put in place that even an adult couldn't lean out the window, let alone a child

This spin-doctoring is becoming surreal. Now that the videos have been seen by probably millions, the tactics of the family and their lawyer are truly mind boggling. I regret feeling this way about people who have suffered such a shattering loss, but at this point I hope it does go to trial and they get their butts handed to them, including RCCL’s court costs.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

This spin-doctoring is becoming surreal. Now that the videos have been seen by probably millions, the tactics of the family and their lawyer are truly mind boggling. I regret feeling this way about people who have suffered such a shattering loss, but at this point I hope it does go to trial and they get their butts handed to them, including RCCL’s court costs.

Agreed. They have suffered an unimaginable tragedy and their pain must be unbearable, but it’s getting harder and harder to feel sympathy for them. They really need to stop with this media circus and focus on their son. I can’t imagine how he must be effected by his family in the spotlight rather than being able to grieve in privacy.

 

[ronandannette]

Agreed. They have suffered an unimaginable tragedy and their pain must be unbearable, but it’s getting harder and harder to feel sympathy for them. They really need to stop with this media circus and focus on their son. I can’t imagine how he must be effected by his family in the spotlight rather than being able to grieve in privacy.

I’ve got quite a bit of experience with grieving parents; the loss of a child is unfortunately not uncommon. Many of them that I’ve known deal with the initial shock and unspeakable pain by throwing themselves into some sort of cause or other oddly frenetic activity. My observation is that this is a natural protective measure that eventually peters out when they become more capable of the long, excruciating road of introspective grief that awaits them. I think we all wish this particular family had chosen a more health outlet and had not aligned themselves so immediately with this crazy lawyer who has undoubtedly had a massive influence on what we’re seeing.

 

[sam_gordon]

Just to update... Anello was in court today. Defense asked for another month, Judge set the next hearing for 2/24 and that's when a trial date would be set.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...-Caribbean-ship-beg-Puerto-Rico-end-case.html

Some quotes from the article...

Chloe Wiegand's distraught parents have begged Puerto Rican authorities to halt criminal proceedings against the grandfather accused of dropping the toddler from the 11th deck of a cruise ship - insisting they know with 'all of their hearts' he is innocent.

Alan and Kimberly Wiegand say evidence from their own private investigation into Chloe's fatal plunge from the Freedom of the Seas shows it was 'physically impossible' for Salvatore Anello to have dangled her overboard.

As the elderly, color-blind grandpa made his third court appearance today in San Juan, the couple called on prosecutors to scrap the negligent homicide charge so they can finally grieve together as a family.

Regarding the bolded... dropping this case will help them grieve, but keeping the civil case against RCI is important for grieving?

When DailyMail.com asked Perez Ortiz [defense lawyer] if he was satisfied he had seen every possible angle of Chloe's fall, he smiled wryly and said: 'We are working on that.'

Funny, he didn't deny. If he really thought there was more video out there showing the fall, why wouldn't he say "no". Yes, I know he's a different lawyer than the one handling the civil case.

Prosecutors have not offered Anello a formal plea deal, contrary to reports. But they nonetheless consider probation the appropriate punishment and would likely agree to him serving his term in Indiana rather than in Puerto Rico.

Quote in the article from a doctor from the ship who was on the pier, saw Chloe on the ground and went to the 11th deck where there was "chaos"...

'The grandfather collapsed on his hands and knees in the corner of the elevator. He was distraught sobbing, crying, saying: 'I dropped my baby, I dropped my baby.'

Bolding mine. Since we know the windows are angled out, wouldn't she have to have been leaning away as he drops her? If he dropped her, she'd go straight down, right?

'All I know is I was trying to reach the glass and I know that we leaned over to try to have her reach the glass, at that point she slipped,' Anello later told CBS.

Put this quote together with

Anello, who was supervising Chloe alone when she fell 150ft to her death last July, would also have needed extraordinarily long arms to have dangled the little girl over the edge of the 154,000-ton vessel, their report argues.

If the glass is so far away that he would have needed such long arms, why would he lean over with her to reach the glass?

 

[QueenIsabella]

There they go, referring to the grandfather as "elderly" again. I'm 55--I guess I'll lie in bed, gum my applesauce, and wait for death...

 

[sam_gordon]

There they go, referring to the grandfather as "elderly" again. I'm 55--I guess I'll lie in bed, gum my applesauce, and wait for death...

Well, "elderly" is a relative term. It simply means "old OR aging". So I guess my 13yo DD is "elderly".

 

[backformore]

There they go, referring to the grandfather as "elderly" again. I'm 55--I guess I'll lie in bed, gum my applesauce, and wait for death...

The lawyers are good. A lot of the news articles don't even mention that the man is only 51. 51! When they refer to him as an elderly grandfather, they have the readers picturing some 80 year old, and they are sympathetic. Poor old guy! He has no idea how to care for a toddler - he's OLD!!!

The man made a mistake. Just like someone who drives a car without putting their kid in a car seat, or leaves their child in a car in a parking lot while running an errand. It's negligent, and in many cases nothing bad happens. But is the kid dies, the adult is charged with negligence.

And actually - if you want your kid to bang on a window at a hockey game, that's your choice. But when windows are high up off the ground, don't trust that they're going to hold up to the same abuse. I know there was no glass there. But his reasoning, that he lifted her up to BANG ON THE WINDOW - makes him an idiot. The plexi-glass at a hockey rink is not the standard for all windows. He didn't hold her up because she likes to bang on glass -she could have done that to the lower windows, the ones that don't open . He held her up to show her the view.

 

[fly girl]

@sam_gordon, like you, the family asking PR to drop the case so they can grieve as a family really irked me. Then drop your civil suit so you can move on from this horrific tragedy and focus on healing, and giving your son the loving care he needs.

The lawyers are good.

They are! Elderly man, childs play area, RCCL only showed grainy video to help them. And you get people eating it all up saying poor old grandpa, he was walking around a death trap and had no idea.

There they go, referring to the grandfather as "elderly" again. I'm 55--I guess I'll lie in bed, gum my applesauce, and wait for death...

I literally laughed out loud with that! It is insane they keep calling him old. He is not old!! He is middle aged. He can't even get the senior citizen discount yet.

 

[Melissa55]

There they go, referring to the grandfather as "elderly" again. I'm 55--I guess I'll lie in bed, gum my applesauce, and wait for death...

My husband’s grandparents are in their 80s. They’ve slowed down a bit, but I am pretty sure they’d still raise hell if anyone tried to call them “elderly.”

 

[kaytieeldr]

There they go, referring to the grandfather as "elderly" again. I'm 55--I guess I'll lie in bed, gum my applesauce, and wait for death...

I have decided, "elderly" is 11 years older than whatever she age I am at the moment. Eleven years because my cousin is ten years older than me. Which, I just realized, makes him older than our grandparents and our cars dads when they died.

I literally laughed out loud with that! It is insane they keep calling him old. He is not old!! He is middle aged. He can't even get the senior citizen discount yet.

Ah, but he can join both AARP and RoadScholar!

 

[Imzadi]

Ah, but he can join both AARP and RoadScholar!

If the defense attorney finds out, he will make sure the grandfather is a card carrying member. One who fumbles with his wallet in court and those cards in particular fall on the floor right in front of the jury. . . And since he's colorblind, he won't be able to see to pick them back up.

 

[mousefan73]

Jesus my DH is 57 and we have kids 13/14. Surprised my kids made it this far.

 

[mom2rtk]

The worst part is that Grandpa is so far away from being elderly that you know this wasn't just fudging a little in how they present it. It's an all out campaign to mislead people. It's just disgusting.

 

[ronandannette]

Jesus my DH is 57 and we have kids 13/14. Surprised my kids made it this far.

At least they’ve survived to an age where they probably couldn’t be held in peril out an 11th floor widow against their will. Again my heart is breaking for little Chloe and this mind-bogglingly senseless tragedy.

 

[QueenIsabella]

At least they’ve survived to an age where they probably couldn’t be held in peril out an 11th floor widow against their will. Again my heart is breaking for little Chloe and this mind-bogglingly senseless tragedy.

Yeah, I have a 13yo as well, but I'm so elderly, I may not live to see him turn 14 next month. But, you're right--he's way to big and heavy for me to dangle him over a railing. There are times I might be sorely tempted to give him a shove, but that's a different issue. (and that's a joke, people! I love my DS13! He's just a teenager!)

 

[lorimay]

51 elderly??????
Oh next he will be using a walker when he shows up to court, like you know who.....pure act.
I became a grandma the first time at 44, guess I was elderly back then, now 11 years later, I got one foot in the grave..........please spare me.

 

[kaytieeldr]

And thick, thick, "Coke-bottle" glasses. Because color-blindness is an invisible disability.