Puerto Rico's Justice Department ordered the arrest of Salvatore Anello on Monday and was charged with negligent manslaughter for the death of his granddaughter, Chloe Wiegand. Anello had placed Chloe near an open window which he thought was closed when her family said she fell out of the ship's 11th story in July this year.

Michael Winkleman at Lipcon, Margulies, Alsina & Winkleman, Pennsylvania, who represented the family in the planned civil suit said that these criminal charges are pouring salt on the open wounds of the grieving family. "Clearly, this was a tragic accident, and the family’s singular goal remains for something like this to never happen again. Had the cruise lines simply followed proper safety guidelines for windows, this accident likely would never have happened," he added.

Kimberly Wiegand had earlier said, "We obviously blame them for not having a safer situation on the 11th floor of that cruise ship. There are a million things that could've been done to make that safer. I know my mom was asking people, 'Why on earth is there a window open on the 11th floor without a screen or anything?'"

The toddler's mother rejected the cruise company’s explanation that the open window was meant for ventilation.

“I just kept saying, 'Take me to my baby. Where's my baby?' I didn't even notice a window. I ran over there, and I looked over, and it wasn't water down there, it was concrete. To lose our baby this way is just unfathomable,” the sobbing mother said.

Chloe's mother defended Anello in an interview with TODAY, explaining that he often held Chloe up to the glass at her older brother's hockey game so she could bang on the glass. She also asserted that Anello never intended to put his children in danger.

She said that Anello was extremely distressed over the accident.

"You can barely look at him without him crying," Kimberly Wiegand. "She was his best friend."

Anello is being held on bond at $80,000 and is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 20, according to the Associated Press.

Tourists disembark at Doha Port as a new cruise season kicks off with the launch of a new temporary passenger terminal as Qatar works to increase the number of cruise ships making calls in the Gulf state
Tourists disembark at Doha Port as a new cruise season kicks off with the launch of a new temporary passenger terminal as Qatar works to increase the number of cruise ships making calls in the Gulf state AFP / KARIM JAAFAR
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