Grandfather charged with dropping toddler out of cruise ship window says colourblindness meant he couldn't see it was open

He is facing charges of negligent homicide after toddler fell more than 10 stories

Chelsea Ritschel
New York
Tuesday 26 November 2019 16:26 GMT
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Grandfather charged in cruise ship death of toddler breaks down in interview

A man facing criminal charges after his 18-month-old granddaughter fell to her death from a cruise ship window has broken down in his first TV interview, saying he was in 'disbelief' when the incident happened.

Salvatore Anello, from Indiana, has been charged with negligent homicide, but maintains that he thought the window was closed.

Chloe Wiegand fell 150 feet from the 11th deck of a Royal Caribbean cruise ship docked in Puerto Rico.

Speaking to CBS News, Anello fought back tears as he said: “I remember trying to find her on the floor and then I saw her fall. I saw her fall the whole way down.

“I saw her fall and it was just a disbelief.”

According to Anello, the fall was an accident and occurred after he’d picked the toddler up and tried to help her knock on the window of the ship, like she loved to do at hockey games.

After realising that the toddler couldn’t reach the window near the floor of the ship, Anello helped her onto the railing, where he says he held her in a bear-hug-type grip.

Anello fights back tears as he recalls death of granddaugther (CBS News)

At one point, he had one hand around the toddler and was trying to reach the glass himself.

“At no point during that whole incident did I think that she fell out,” he recalled. “It was like, it was unbelievable.”

Following the fall, Anello said he just remembers “screaming that I thought there was glass”.

“I still say it to myself. I kind of relieve it all the time and I… I just thought there was glass there. I don’t know what else to tell you,” he said. “It seems like it’s all not real. She was such a beautiful little girl. Perfect little girl.”

According to Anello, part of the reason he may not have realised a lack of window is because he is colourblind.

After CBS News' correspondent David Begnaud explained that numerous people have pointed out that the windows on the cruise ship are tinted, Anello said: “I’m colourblind, David. I don’t know. I just never saw it. I’ve been told that that’s a reason that it might have happened.”

Anello also alleged that he would not have held Wiegand “above the railing and over the railing” as shown in the video of the incident, had he realised that there was no glass.

Toddler falls to death from cruise ship

"Not knowing that there wasn't glass there, if somehow I thought that she was going beyond the glass, I wouldn't have done it. I would have been appalled,” he said, adding that if there had been a warning sign near the open window, he wouldn’t have “been near it”.

Despite the family’s wishes not to pursue charges, Anello faces three years in prison if he is convicted. He is due back in court 17 December.

"Whether, you know, they find me guilty of whatever or not. It's inconsequential because of what has already happened is so horrible," Anello said.

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