Family's statement on toddler's cruise death

[mjkacmom]

11 hours ago, graphicguy said:

Sad...sad!  But, regardless of how this picture was painted, the step-grandfather showed a complete disregard for safety and obviously his step-grand daughter.  I’m of the mind he could not have possibly been that oblivious to the extreme danger of standing the little girl on the narrow window ledge unless he was somehow impaired.

 

The truth may never be known, given no one wants to testify, however.

It was reported at the time of the incident that he was not impaired.

[mjkacmom]

11 hours ago, SherriZ366 said:

The parents and their lawyer were all over TV about suing RCCL for negligence.  

They really were not all over, one segment on the Today show and just a couple of articles that were picked up by various news organizations. It was in and out of the news in a couple of days. The lawyer glommed on to the family immediately during a period of time when they were obviously not thinking straight. Ever since the first week there has been nothing.

[graphicguy]

48 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

It was reported at the time of the incident that he was not impaired.

I really don’t know how someone can explain the Step Grandfather’s total lack of good judgement, then.  It just makes zero sense why he did what he did.

 

If a civil case continues, where the family is suing Royal, this is a major blow to their case.  

 

We’ve all said it before, the best thing to do is for the family to grieve and work through this in private, and not prolong this agony with trying to use the courts to replace their daughter with money they may, and probably may not, receive.

[Marine Mom]

16 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

I really don’t know how someone can explain the Step Grandfather’s total lack of good judgement, then.  It just makes zero sense why he did what he did.

 

If a civil case continues, where the family is suing Royal, this is a major blow to their case.  

 

We’ve all said it before, the best thing to do is for the family to grieve and work through this in private, and not prolong this agony with trying to use the courts to replace their daughter with money they may, and probably may not, receive.

I agree 100% with you. 

[phillyguy31]

The family will have to double down on blaming RCL to try and get the Grandfather off, at least until the video is released. If they go to court I assume that the video will become public record and if it shows what we all expect it to show then I believe they really won't be able to support a lawsuit. Hopefully everyone gets smart, the grandfather takes a plea and the family quietly heals their wounds. That way there is no reason to release the video.

[mjkacmom]

56 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

I really don’t know how someone can explain the Step Grandfather’s total lack of good judgement, then.  It just makes zero sense why he did what he did.

 

If a civil case continues, where the family is suing Royal, this is a major blow to their case.  

 

We’ve all said it before, the best thing to do is for the family to grieve and work through this in private, and not prolong this agony with trying to use the courts to replace their daughter with money they may, and probably may not, receive.

I once tried to remove some chunks of tomatoes from my stick blender - while it was still on. Cut most of the flesh out of the pad of my finger. Luckily mom my lived in town and drove me to urgent care, where they packed it with something that would stay in place for many weeks while my finger grew back. My kids came home to an empty house and bloody kitchen. Everyone asked why I thought it was a good idea to not turn it off first, to this day I have no idea. All I know is that it hurt like hell and took forever to heal. One of the dumbest things I ever did.

[Newleno]

14 hours ago, CP3o said:

That seems odd but if it is the case then a lawsuit and discovery phase by another lawyer might be the one way they could see it.

they will get it in discovery, and if the parents ever see what grandpa did I believe they will be shocked

[mjkacmom]

18 minutes ago, Newleno said:

they will get it in discovery, and if the parents ever see what grandpa did I believe they will be shocked

Do you know what happened? Were you a witness?

[Newleno]

24 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

Do you know what happened? Were you a witness?

yes i know what happened, a child died while in the care of another human being, the story told by media/lawyer does not mesh with reality.  THE PARENTS WILL BE SHOCKED!  He was charged with negligent homicide that is what happened, those are the facts.  You cant spin it, the man was charged and he will either be likely convicted or a plea deal, put it in the bank

[phillyguy31]

As much as we feel for the family and what they are currently going through, does anybody really believe RCL has any culpability in this whole thing? I am truly amazed that for once everyone on this board seems to agree, unfortunately it has to be this subject.

[jaja]

The outcome does not surprise me. I am curious to see if the family still pursues the suit against Royal. 

[mjkacmom]

17 minutes ago, Newleno said:

yes i know what happened, a child died while in the care of another human being, the story told by media/lawyer does not mesh with reality.  THE PARENTS WILL BE SHOCKED!  He was charged with negligent homicide that is what happened, those are the facts.  You cant spin it, the man was charged and he will either be likely convicted or a plea deal, put it in the bank

Wow, wouldn’t want you on my jury! 

[cruisingnewtoit]

I want to rage at RCL because the lawyer is right if the window was closed the child would be alive. 

 

But the child would be alive if the caregiver didn't pick her up and put her by a open window to fall from. It's personal responsibility. When is Co responsible for our negligence. The GF is an adult. 

 

My heart wants to blame RCL (emotional response in me) but I know logically the fault lies elsewhere. 

[kaylorcc]

Obviously it’s impossible to know what exactly happened without having been there or seeing video of the event. However, the fact that he was charged in this type of case where you don’t always see charges filed suggests to me that there was an exacerbating factor- quite possibly the fact that his and the family’s story that he wasn’t dangling her over the edge is not backed up by the video evidence. I think mendacity in a case like this could absolutely influence the decision to prosecute or not. Just speculating, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that was coming into play. Horrible event all around.

[Newleno]

2 minutes ago, kaylorcc said:

I think mendacity in a case like this could absolutely influence the decision to prosecute or not

Word

[purpleally]

2 hours ago, cruisingnewtoit said:

I want to rage at RCL because the lawyer is right if the window was closed the child would be alive. 

 

But the child would be alive if the caregiver didn't pick her up and put her by a open window to fall from. It's personal responsibility. When is Co responsible for our negligence. The GF is an adult. 

 

My heart wants to blame RCL (emotional response in me) but I know logically the fault lies elsewhere. 

It’s RCLs fault because a window was open?????  No.  

[cruisingnewtoit]

5 minutes ago, purpleally said:

It’s RCLs fault because a window was open?????  No.  

Did you read my whole statement. I acknowledge that it's not RCL fault in the end. I said my emotions were affected because of the tragedy but I understand that it's not their fault.

[jaja]

https://apnews.com/9ce58db6e52741a8986360b72a376629

 

Looks like they ARE continuing with the lawsuit against Royal.  

Attorney Michael Winkleman said in a statement that the child’s death was “a tragic accident,” and that the family, who is from the northern Indiana community of Granger, will be filing a lawsuit against Royal Caribbean “very soon.”

Winkleman has said that Chloe fell through an open 11th-story window on July 7 after she had asked her grandfather to lift her up so she could bang on the glass in a children’s play area. He’s blamed the cruise ship operator for leaving the window open.

“These criminal charges are pouring salt on the open wounds of this grieving family. Clearly this was a tragic accident and the family’s singular goal remains for something like this to never happen again,” Winkleman said in his news release.

“Had the cruise lines simply followed proper safety guidelines for windows, this accident likely would never have happened.”

___

 

[Cruiser_1977]

@jaja To Mr. Winkleman I would say "Sir, this was not a child's play area. There is no reason for the family to fear this will happen again. Millions of people have cruised without this type of incident. The authorities are making sure it never happens again by pursuing charges against the ONLY person that has any fault in this situation."

Edited October 29, 2019 by JennyB1977

[Two Wheels Only]

8 minutes ago, jaja said:

“Had the cruise lines simply followed proper safety guidelines for windows, this accident likely would never have happened.”

 

The safety guidelines were followed. The open window was high enough according to safety regulations and there is a railing between the guests and the window.

 

No window can be idiot proof.

[jaja]

35 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

The safety guidelines were followed. The open window was high enough according to safety regulations and there is a railing between the guests and the window.

 

No window can be idiot proof.

I totally agree !!!  (BTW in case there is some confusion..--that quote was not mine but rather the family lawyer!!!)

[Two Wheels Only]

2 minutes ago, jaja said:

(BTW in case there is some confusion..--that quote was not mine but rather the family lawyer!!!)

 

Yeah, I didn't mean for it to seem like your quote. When I replied, the quote from the lawyer was right above me.

[cloudsail]

I was talking about this with friends, and it turns out that some people can be really dumb with kids. One friend told the story of when they were in Hawaii, her husband took their ten year old daughter to swim in the sea. They were gone for three hours. She was completely beside herself, called the cops, and the coast guard sent out boats and a helicopter to search for them. It turned out that her husband had decided to swim with their daughter all the way to a distant island. It was really, really far. Thank God neither of them had a muscle spasm or cramp in the middle, or the story would've ended very tragically. 

 

Another friend said that she found out when her in-laws were charged with the care of their infant grandson (not her own kid, a nephew), they would regularly feed him sleeping pills when he fussed and wouldn't sleep. These in-laws were very uneducated. She was horrified and incredibly glad that she'd never entrusted her children to them. That baby was very lucky to still be alive, but no way to know if there was any brain damage.

 

These are just from friends, and both stories could have ended very tragically. One was bad judgement and one was gross ignorance. Children are incredibly vulnerable and you are always taking some degree of risk when you entrust them to others. There are, unfortunately, many people in this world who should not be taking care of children on their own.

[lanceholt]

The only real evidence is the video from the ship, so it will all have to play out.  Once he sees the video, if it does show negligence, hopefully the grandfather try to get a plea deal.   To say they have suffered enough.....my feeling is that the one who suffered the most was the little girl, 18 months old, has suffered the most as she was deprived of her whole future and died a horrible death.  If her death was a result of gross negligence, then that will have to be faced and dealt with.   His job was to watch her every minute.....as you watch any toddler....especially the very first hours on a ship when the environment was new to all of them.  

[cruisinmeme]

3 hours ago, JennyB1977 said:

@jaja To Mr. Winkleman I would say "Sir, this was not a child's play area. There is no reason for the family to fear this will happen again. Millions of people have cruised without this type of incident. The authorities are making sure it never happens again by pursuing charges against the ONLY person that has any fault in this situation."

 

Well said!  It has made my head spin when I constantly read “children’s play area” with 23 cruises and 3 different cruise lines I have never felt that was a children’s play area.

to say there is another person on planet earth that (1) can’t tell difference in open or closed window (2) encourages a toddler to bang head on glass. 

I had nephew that banged his head on baby bed. Nobody in family thought that was cute and we certainly didn’t run around telling everyone and allowing him to do this.

3 hours ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

The safety guidelines were followed. The open window was high enough according to safety regulations and there is a railing between the guests and the window.

 

No window can be idiot proof.

Isn’t that the damn truth.