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No Charges for Mother After 5-Year-Old’s 49-Foot Fall from Disney Cruise Ship
Newly released documents are providing a detailed account of a harrowing incident from June 29th, when a 5-year-old girl fell from the Disney Dream cruise ship and was rescued by her father, who jumped in after her.
The Broward State Attorney’s Office has decided not to press charges against the child’s mother, calling the event a “merely accidental” and “isolated incident.”
Related – Dad Jumps Overboard to Rescue Five-Year-Old Daughter on Disney Dream
According to an incident report from the Broward Sheriff’s Office, the family was on Deck 4 of the ship, which was in international waters between the Bahamas and Florida, when they stopped to take a photo. The mother pointed to the railing, and her 5-year-old daughter “climbed on the railing and sat down.” The girl then lost her balance and “fell backward off the railing into the ocean.”
A memo from the Broward State Attorney’s Office noted the fall was from an approximate height of 49 feet.
The report states the mother “initially did not believe her daughter had fallen into the ocean, as she assumed a glass barrier was present.” Once she realized her daughter was in the water, she screamed for help.
Just a minute later, the child’s father jumped from the same deck “in an effort to save his daughter.” He successfully located her in the water, and they treaded water together. Video from other passengers showed a tender boat launched by the ship rescuing them both approximately 20 minutes after the initial fall.
Investigators noted that the child was too small to trigger the ship’s man overboard sensors.
In her decision not to pursue charges, Assistant State Attorney Melissa Kelly wrote that the mother “innocently capturing a photograph of her daughter” and “believed that there was some sort of protective barrier.”
Kelly’s memo concluded that while the mother’s conduct of allowing her child to sit on the railing was “negligent, it does not rise to a standard of culpable negligence or utter disregard for the safety of her child.”
The mother told investigators she believed Disney was responsible for the incident and that there should be coverings on the windows.
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