The man whose toddler granddaughter slipped from his grasp andfell to her death out of a cruise ship windowlast July says he’s pleading guilty to help end the “nightmare” he and his family have endured since the tragedy.
“I took a plea deal today to try to help end part of this nightmare for my family, if possible,” Anello said ina statement posted on the websiteof his family’s attorney, Michael Winkleman.
But Anello and Chloe’s parents have always maintained the tragedy was an accident and not a crime.
Chloe Wiegand.Facebook
The family’s lawyer, Michael Winkleman, previously told PEOPLE Anello put Chloe up on a wood railing beside what he thought was a wall of closed windows, unaware that a sliding window was open. Winkleman said Chloe liked to bang on glass panels at her older brother’s hockey games, and when she went to bang on what appeared to be closed windows, she fell.
In his statement, Anello said, “I wasn’t drinking and I wasn’t dangling her out of a window. I just wanted to knock on the glass with her as we did together so many times before. I was just so horribly wrong about our surroundings. I was placed in charge of keeping my beautiful granddaughter safe and I failed. It will always be a constant nightmare every day and every night for the rest of my life.”
PEOPLE’s request for comment from Anello’s criminal attorney, Jose Perez, was not immediately returned.
Family’s Wrongful Death Suit Will Proceed: Lawyer
The family has filed a wrongful death civil suit against Royal Caribbean, which will proceed despite Anello’s plea.
Winkleman previously told PEOPLE that all windows comprising the wall of windows were closed except for the one Chloe fell out of.
“The windows were not compliant with window-fall prevention codes, designed to prevent children from falling out of windows,” Winkleman told PEOPLE.
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“Because Mr. Anello had himself leaned out the window, he was well aware that the window was open,” the motion said. “In addition, the windows in question consist of greenish-tinted glass making it open and obvious where a window is open versus closed.”
Grandfather Misses Girl ‘Beyond Measure’
In his statement, Anello recounted the “horrible day” of Chloe’s death and said he was “focused on Chloe the whole time I was with her.
“From my point of view, at the moment the accident happened, it was as if this wall of protective glass disappeared. I was in complete disbelief. It was a nightmare of the likes I could never have imagined before.”
Salvatore Anello.teresa canino/AP Images
The statement added, “I love you and miss you, Chloe, beyond measure.”
source: people.com
