Indiana police officer's 1-year-old daughter dies in fall from Freedom of the Seas cruise ship
A girl apparently slipped from her grandfather's hands and fell to her death from the 11th story of a cruise ship docked in Puerto Rico, police said Monday. Police Sgt. Nelson Sotelo told The Associated Press the family of the child will remain in the U.S. territory until the investigation into the 1-year-old's death is complete. He said officers have not been able to interview any relatives yet.
"They're in shock," he said.
Authorities said the girl was traveling with her parents, two siblings and two sets of grandparents aboard the Freedom of the Seas, which docked in Puerto Rico on Sunday after a weeklong trip through the Caribbean. The death occurred Sunday afternoon at the Panamerican dock in the capital of San Juan.
Sotelo said the toddler's maternal grandfather, Salvatore Anello of Valparaiso, Indiana, is under investigation. He said the rest of the family is from Granger, Indiana.
The police chief of South Bend, Indiana, Scott Ruszkowski, confirmed to CBS affiliate WSBT-TV that the girl was the daughter of Officer Alan Wiegand, and the department issued a statement saying it "asks the community to pray for the entire Wiegand family as they grieve and to respect their privacy."
Ruszkowski disputed the statement issued by Puerto Rico police that the girl was being held out of a window.
Owen Torres, Corporate Communications Manager for Royal Caribbean, told CBS News that the cruise operator was "deeply saddened by yesterday's tragic incident, and our hearts go out to the family." He added that the company had made its "Care Team available to assist the family with any resources they need," but would not be offering any further comment out of respect for their privacy.
A Royal Caribbean spokeswoman said the ship departed Puerto Rico on Monday for St. Maarten on a new itinerary and declined further comment.
According to the Seascanner website, the Freedom of the Seas eventually left San Juan on Sunday evening at 8:30 p.m. local time with about 3,600 passengers. It was beginning a seven-day cruise around the Caribbean islands and was next scheduled to dock at St. Maarten, a Dutch territory, later Monday morning.
