Chloe Wiegand: Did Royal Caribbean lie to Coast Guard? Family says ship 'intentionally destroyed' CCTV footage
The family of toddler Chloe Wiegand, who died after being dropped from a cruise ship window, has alleged that Royal Caribbean lied to the US Coast Guard and "intentionally destroyed" security footage to evade responsibility for the toddler's death. The one-year-old Chloe fell 150 feet to her death after her grandfather, 52-year-old Salvatore Anello, placed her on a ledge on the 11th floor of the Royal Caribbean Cruises' Freedom of the Seas ship in July 2019.
The child died instantly after falling from the window ledge that Anello believed was covered by a piece of glass. The family claimed that Royal Caribbean wiped video footage that was "fatal" to its defense and would have exonerated Anello, according to motions filed by the family obtained by Daily Mail. Parents Alan and Kimberly Wiegand have asked the judge in the negligence lawsuit to enter a default judgment in their favor for "spoliation of evidence".
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Earlier this week, Anello was spared jail and sentenced to three years probation after he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in October 2020. Anello will be allowed to serve his probation in his home state of Indiana. The sentencing was part of a plea deal he accepted to serve no jail time after previously pleading not guilty to negligent homicide.
In the latest round of filings, the Wiegands' lawyers presented evidence that they say the cruise company "chose to ignore" the "clear, known" dangers posed by the windows and instead chose to defend the case by blaming the grandfather and destroying evidence.
The filings include a declaration from the ship's former Chief Security Officer, Elton Koopman, who admitted that he "personally witnessed repeated incidents of fall hazards involving the pool deck windows," according to the Daily Mail report. He also said that he "attended numerous safety meetings where such fall hazards were discussed and he contributed in the effort to rectify the hazard by keeping the windows closed and warning passengers."
The Wiegands want to determine who opened the windows and why and whether it was a crew member who should have been aware of Koopman's warnings. Their filing states, however, that the CCTV evidence was destroyed. "Less than 48 hours after the incident, on July 9, 2019, plaintiff's counsel requested in writing that Royal Caribbean preserve any and all video depicting the area of the incident for 12 hours prior to the incident."
The filing continued, "Again the following day, on July 10, 2019, the Coast Guard requested CCTV footage showing who opened the window and when it was opened. The Captain ignored the Coast Guard's question as to whether there was CCTV showing who opened the window. And the Captain ignored the Coast guard's request to provide them CCTV footage of the windows being opened."
The filing then states, "Instead, Royal Caribbean reviewed the footage requested, unilaterally determined it was not relevant, and retained only the 30 minutes of footage prior to the incident from the two cameras that captured the incident. Thereafter, Royal Caribbean knowingly and intentionally destroyed the remaining CCTV footage."
The toddler's family says that the evidence is crucial because if a crew member did, in fact, open the window, it would leave Royal Caribbean culpable in her death. In the absence of the evidence, the Wiegands' attorneys have asked US District Judge Donald L Graham to apply the "harshest of sanctions" by deciding the case in the family's favor.
The motion concluded, "The CCTV was destroyed because it was fatal to Royal Caribbean's defense and would have exonerated Mr Anello. The video likely shows that a crewmember opened the window and thus created the very condition that led to Chloe's death. This is not a narrative Royal Caribbean would allow."