The man accused of dropping his granddaughter from the 11th floor of a cruise ship window in Puerto Rico last year has reportedly accepted a plea deal.
Salvatore Anello initially didn’t want a plea and maintained his innocence, but recently changed his plea to “guilty” and said he wanted to put the matter to rest, according to a report by ABC News.
Anello, of Indiana, was charged with negligent homicide after Chloe Wiegand’s death aboard the Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas, which was docked in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in July.
Anello was holding 18-month-old Chloe and placed her on a wood railing. Anello says he was under the impression there was a glass window between them and the outside.
But the window was open. And Chloe fell.
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. showed a series of stills from a surveillance camera that capture the event, in response to a lawsuit filed by Chloe’s family claiming negligence on behalf of the cruise company.
Royal Caribbean released footage that shows Anello held Chloe outside the window for 34 seconds before she was dropped, and said Anello must have known about the open window.