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

[RangerPooh]

What is wrong with some people?

 

[Hikergirl]

That guy quoted wasn't there. There were several eyewitnesses. The truth will come out, but it seems that the child was purposely held outside thw window, according to firsthand reports. Obviously the family is going to claim it wasn't their fault, it was an accident, etc. They need to be able to blame the cruise line at some point when they inevitably file suit...

I find it very hard to believe that the child accidentally fell out. That is basically impossible in this scenario.

From CNN
Local police are still investigating the incident, which preliminarily has been determined to be an accident, Carmona said. The girl's body was taken to a forensic unit in San Juan.

Would it be an accident if he was actually purposely dangling her out?
And when you say "family" do you mean her parents? Are you saying it was their fault?

I think I will just wait until the facts have been investigated before I jump to any conclusions about the family suing or whether or not the grandfather risked her life on purpose.

 

[cabanafrau]

Maybe I'll put down my rocks and wait for a clearer picture of what happened before looking to stone anybody. No matter how you look at it, plenty of anguish and misery to go around. I cannot begin to imagine.

A firsthand report would be something that is directly recounted by the person who saw or heard the incident in question. They're not always reliable, nor are they always reported correctly.

 

[robinb]

I'm sure there should be some video footage. There are cameras everywhere on a cruise ship.

 

[fly girl]

I am so sorry for this family, including the grandfather.

I put this along the lines with the Mom at the Pittsburgh zoo who raised her son so he could see the painted dogs and he fell. Was it careless and dumb? Yes. But it wasn't intentional. I am sad and angry the mom did it, but I can also grieve for her too.

 

[Imzadi]

We had a friend whose son was full body pressed to his screen in his upstairs window trying to see his siblings playing outside. Luckily the screen did not fall out...but still. Everyone in our group pretty much duct taped their windows shut after that.

Sounds like your friend's child is old enough now not to fall through now.

For others: There are inexpensive child window guards that can be installed. Here, they are required by law here in any apartment that has children under 10. Even on first floor windows. Musician, Eric Clapton's son died by falling through a 53 story window, as condos are exempt from that law. It is up to individual condo owners to decide to install them or not. There wasn't any installed.

One can get the child window guards at Home Depot for around $20. They are adjustable. The sides get bolted into the window frame.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Grisham-AWG-22-3-4-in-to-36-1-2-in-Adjustable-Width-3-Bar-Window-Guard-White-93922/207011303

 

[Imzadi]

Here’s an updated story. https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/08/us/toddler-falls-cruise-ship-trnd/index.html

There was an open window in the dining room and he was holding her by it and he slipped.

The news story said she was sitting on the window sill of the one opened window.

An American toddler fell to her death on Sunday from the deck of a Royal Caribbean cruise ship docked in San Juan, Puerto Rico, a spokesman for the local Port Authority said.​

​

The 18-month-old girl was playing with her grandfather in a dining hall on deck 11 of the Freedom of the Seas, Port Authority spokesman José Carmona said. The dining area has large windows, and one pane was open.​

​

The grandfather sat the girl in the window and lost his balance, and the girl fell to her death.​

I kind of wonder if the grandfather hadn't opened the one window. The ship was docked. He probably thought there would be no harm in sitting her on the sill as they looked at the view. He hadn't thought about how the ship still rocks even while docked. And/or the child would be so excited that she'd be squirmy. He lost his grip on her and she fell.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...ana-toddler-fell-150ft-death-cruise-ship.html
It sounds, from this article, that the police in Puerto Rico said one thing, and police from the family's hometown (where the father of the girl was employed) said something different. That's where the confusion is coming from.

If the little girl was falling out of the window and the grandfather was trying to catch her, it may have appeared as if the grandfather was "dangling" her out of the window. But they are good questions to ask why that window was open in the first place and how the little girl got near it in order to fall out, if for no other reason than to prevent such tragedies in the future.

 

[L&Lfan]

I flashed back on Michael Jackson dangling Blanket Jackson from the hotel balcony while giggling.

 

[lifesavacation]

I flashed back on Michael Jackson dangling Blanket Jackson from the hotel balcony while giggling.

That's the first thing I thought of, honestly.

From the photo, I can't picture how the child was placed to sit on a window that high.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I flashed back on Michael Jackson dangling Blanket Jackson from the hotel balcony while giggling.

I remember that. He caught a lot of criticism for it, too.

https://ew.com/article/2002/11/20/jacko-apologizes-dangling-baby-out-window/

 

[sam_gordon]

There are too many different accounts...
* He was dangling her out the window (if this is the case, lock up him up for life. But it's SO outlandish to me, I can't imagine it's true)
* He sat her on the window sill (a little more believable IMO, a very bad idea even so)
* He was holding her next to the window (totally plausible IMO)
* It was from the pool area
* It was from the dining room (which isn't on deck 11)
* It was from the Windjammer (buffet) (which I can't remember if they have windows that open)

I'd rather believe the best in people until proven otherwise. So I'm picturing him holding the child next to the window, something happens (the child squirms, the adult gets hit by another child or bumped), and the child fell, which happened to be through the window.

I think some people like to assign blame quickly because as long as there's an easy cause, that makes it easier to say "it can't happen to me".

 

[mom2rtk]

If those are chairs I see in that close up shot, and I'm seeing the scale properly, how would a toddler even get up to that height?

 

[disykat]

Just last night my husband was holding our dog on a 3rd story balcony yesterday and I had to tell him to put her inside. Obviously dangling a child over is wrong and that's why Michael Jackson was called out, but I can think of many times I held our children tight in precarious situations. On staircases, bridges, balconies, near windows. One false move and that could have been me. So scary and so sad!

 

[lifesavacation]

Here's another picture to show the height.

 

[Colleen27]

Ok. I'd read other reports, too, and they all said dangling. If it was an accident because she was sitting near a window, then that's different. It would be nice if stories could be reported accurately.

The "dangling" narrative all seems to go back to the quote(s) from the Puerto Rican official who talked to the press about the case. Which makes me think maybe something was lost in translation. It is really easy to picture how an accident like this could happen without any dangling involved - Grandpa lifts the little girl up so she can see out the window from "adult" height, maybe even rests her weight on the window sill while thinking she's safe because he has his arms around her. But then something happens - he stumbles or is bumped just as she squirms - and he loses what he thought was a secure grip, with tragic results. To me, that seems far more plausible than the idea that he was deliberately dangling a baby out of the window in the pictures.

 

[RedAngie]

If those are chairs I see in that close up shot, and I'm seeing the scale properly, how would a toddler even get up to that height?

All reports agree the grandfather was holding the toddler. She didn't climb that high.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

From what I've been reading I'm more inclined to believe it was a mistake, one that no one wants to happen to anyone. Certainly if more information becomes available I can look at it again.

I also believe that there are times children are put in harms way, not because of some malicious thought but because the danger isn't immediately recognized.

Just a few weeks ago in Vegas I saw several kids hoisted up and sat on the concrete ledge where you watch the Bellagio fountains go off. That's not safe at all, the child can fall into the water and if you're on the back side it's a lot further drop than the front side. I'm sure all the adults were wanting to do was give the kids a way to view it (because the ledge is high) but I cringed whenever I saw that. We can also think of the times this has happened at zoos. The intention isn't to put the child in harms way but to give them a better viewing position but harm can come to them (falling into the enclosure for example).

 

[kdonnel]

Many years ago we arrived at the Beach Club Villas. Both sets of in laws were meeting us there. On the way my wife's parents called to cancel. They had made it half way when they found out there was a death in the family and they were headed to be with that part of the family instead. We would call the trip short a day early to be at the funeral. My parents arrived at virtually the same time we did to the resort but the scooter we had rented to be delivered to the resort was no where to be found.

While my wife talked to my parents about the death, I tried to get a hold of the scooter company to find out what was going on, the kids ran around the room, supervised but not really.

A few moments later my wife started screaming, a scream you know is something serious. Our four year old daughter had pushed a chair up to the balcony and was balanced on her knees on the fourth floor railing. The railing in our villa was half solid and she could not see so she figured out a way to be able to see.

It happened within five minutes of arriving to the room.

Luckily she was not physically hurt, though she was scared so bad by my wife's scream that she did cry for some time.

Tragedy is always just a moment away.

 

[DLgal]

The news story said she was sitting on the window sill of the one opened window.

An American toddler fell to her death on Sunday from the deck of a Royal Caribbean cruise ship docked in San Juan, Puerto Rico, a spokesman for the local Port Authority said.​

​

The 18-month-old girl was playing with her grandfather in a dining hall on deck 11 of the Freedom of the Seas, Port Authority spokesman José Carmona said. The dining area has large windows, and one pane was open.​

​

The grandfather sat the girl in the window and lost his balance, and the girl fell to her death.​

I kind of wonder if the grandfather hadn't opened the one window. The ship was docked. He probably thought there would be no harm in sitting her on the sill as they looked at the view. He hadn't thought about how the ship still rocks even while docked. And/or the child would be so excited that she'd be squirmy. He lost his grip on her and she fell.

Why the HECK did he think sitting a toddler on an open window ledge 150 feet off the ground was a good idea? Come on.