Family's statement on toddler's cruise death

[richstowe]

12 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

I once tried to remove some chunks of tomatoes from my stick blender - while it was still on. Cut most of the flesh out of the pad of my finger. Luckily mom my lived in town and drove me to urgent care, where they packed it with something that would stay in place for many weeks while my finger grew back. My kids came home to an empty house and bloody kitchen. Everyone asked why I thought it was a good idea to not turn it off first, to this day I have no idea. All I know is that it hurt like hell and took forever to heal. One of the dumbest things I ever did.

Did you sue the stick blender manufacturer ? Kidding , kidding ( I hope) . 

[PelicanBill]

As a society we have an amazing capacity to ignore negligence when it is a family member or parent responsible, and call it an tragedy or terrible accident.

 

The consequence is that we tolerate many deep pockets lawsuits to deflect blame -- and as one poster put it, try to replace their loss with money and focus on others rather than themselves..  That drives up costs, and closes or alters facilties for the rest of us.  The most common example is child pool drownings in pools without lifeguards.  Look at what has happened at Disney - several settled lawsuits in large sums, with all pools fenced, more lifeguards and hours reduced to afford lifeguards. 

 

I am glad to see the arrest.  Let's have a jury decide if this was an accident or negligence.

[PTC DAWG]

2 hours ago, PelicanBill said:

 

 

I am glad to see the arrest.  Let's have a jury decide if this was an accident or negligence.

I will be surprised if this ever gets to the Jury deciding anything.  

[RunBikeCruiseDC]

On 10/29/2019 at 10:59 AM, mjkacmom said:

I once tried to remove some chunks of tomatoes from my stick blender - while it was still on. Cut most of the flesh out of the pad of my finger. Luckily mom my lived in town and drove me to urgent care, where they packed it with something that would stay in place for many weeks while my finger grew back. My kids came home to an empty house and bloody kitchen. Everyone asked why I thought it was a good idea to not turn it off first, to this day I have no idea. All I know is that it hurt like hell and took forever to heal. One of the dumbest things I ever did.

I thought I was the only one that did something this stupid!!!   I had a stick blender with power on the side.  I was trying to un-gunk a cream cheese mixture and bumped the on button.  Impaled the darn thing on my finger.  I drove a stick shift so I could not drive myself to urgent care, had to call ambulance.  Fire department thought they may use mini Jaws of life to remove the thing. Once my hand started relaxing after numbing injection, it came right off.  Firefighters were so bummed.   Luckily I didn't severe any nerves and my finger is okay now.  Lesson learned, always unplug before cleaning.

 

Now back to the subject at hand.  I'm so saddened the grandfather was given criminal charges.  I was hoping for manslaughter.   Tragic accident but he didn't mean to kill the child.  This family has been through so much already. 😞   My father liked to teach his grandkids to "drive" by putting them in his lap and letting them hold the wheel.  It was fun for the kids but dangerous.  A niece decided she could "drive" a car that was running while my father ran in the house quickly, totaled the car. But luckily my niece was unharmed.   I think grandparents are so busy trying to make the grandkids happy that they sometimes forget common sense.

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, RunBikeCruiseDC said:

I'm so saddened the grandfather was given criminal charges.  I was hoping for manslaughter. 

Huh?  Manslaughter is a criminal charge.  And in many jurisdictions, negligent homicide and involuntary manslaughter are defined identically.

[RunBikeCruiseDC]

7 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Huh?  Manslaughter is a criminal charge.  And in many jurisdictions, negligent homicide and involuntary manslaughter are defined identically.

Learned something new, In Virginia we only hear "involuntary manslaughter" so I thought the two were different.

[chengkp75]

57 minutes ago, RunBikeCruiseDC said:

Learned something new, In Virginia we only hear "involuntary manslaughter" so I thought the two were different.

But both are criminal charges, and both are felonies.

[tomservo]

22 minutes ago, RunBikeCruiseDC said:

 I think grandparents are so busy trying to make the grandkids happy that they sometimes forget common sense.

 

I had a post months ago in this thread where I said that I wouldn't trust young kids with most grandparents on a cruise. I still stand by it, but a few grandparents took issue with my post. I still don't understand if this was a momentary lapse in attention (didn't realize the window was open somehow) or a momentary lapse in judgement (purposely holding her near or out the window and losing his grip or maybe she squirmed or wrenched away or something). The negligent homicide charge seems to indicate the latter.

[RCLcruiser2012]

On 10/28/2019 at 5:58 PM, esm54687 said:

Why should he be exempt from being charged? 

 

 

Because it was an accident. He will.have the guilt to live with the rest of his life...

[GeezerCouple]

7 minutes ago, RCLcruiser2012 said:

Because it was an accident. He will.have the guilt to live with the rest of his life...

 

That's probably why it isn't a murder charge.

 

Think about a bad driver who hit and kills someone, while doing something very negligent (not including something like a seizure).

 

That was surely an "accident", at least in most cases.

But the driver still killed another person.

 

GC

 

[RCLcruiser2012]

Just now, GeezerCouple said:

 

That's probably why it isn't a murder charge.

 

Think about a bad driver who hit and kills someone, while doing something very negligent (not including something like a seizure).

 

That was surely an "accident", at least in most cases.

But the driver still killed another person.

 

GC

 

This is very true too.... 

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, RCLcruiser2012 said:

Because it was an accident. He will.have the guilt to live with the rest of his life...

 

55 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

That's probably why it isn't a murder charge.

 

Think about a bad driver who hit and kills someone, while doing something very negligent (not including something like a seizure).

 

That was surely an "accident", at least in most cases.

But the driver still killed another person.

 

GC

 

Yep, that's why manslaughter is different from murder, manslaughter does not require intent.

[Two Wheels Only]

If I read correctly, a negligent homicide conviction sentence is 15 years in PR. 

[NLH Arizona]

47 minutes ago, RCLcruiser2012 said:

Because it was an accident. He will.have the guilt to live with the rest of his life...

Would you feel the same if it would have been a babysitter that did it?  I'd bet my house, that the parents would want the babysitter charged.

[RCLcruiser2012]

4 minutes ago, NLH Arizona said:

Would you feel the same if it would have been a babysitter that did it?  I'd bet my house, that the parents would want the babysitter charged.

IF the babysitter was truly remorseful and it was an accident I would not....Again, he or she would have to live with this the rest of their life.....That is a sentence in itself. Sure, there is absolutely a time and a place for charges brought but I don't think that is always the case....It's like people are sue crazy too...It does no good. This is just my opinion...

Edited October 30, 2019 by RCLcruiser2012

[phillyguy31]

People tend to use the word accident too causally IMHO. This was no accident, he had to lift the child up 4 feet from the floor, put her on a railing in front of an open window. I know he said he didn't know it was open, that is hard to believe. Then he had to let go of her. Even if he truly thought the window was closed would you let a 1.5 year old child sit on a railing without holding on to her? Accident no, negligent yes. I didn't say it was intended, but there were several checkpoints in his actions where common sense should have kicked in. That all being said I feel for the family and the grandfather because they have a burden they will live with for the rest of their lives, but just to say they have had enough pain because it was the grandfather and not a nanny doesn't fly in my book.

[BSocial]

2 hours ago, phillyguy31 said:

People tend to use the word accident too causally IMHO. This was no accident, he had to lift the child up 4 feet from the floor, put her on a railing in front of an open window. I know he said he didn't know it was open, that is hard to believe. Then he had to let go of her. Even if he truly thought the window was closed would you let a 1.5 year old child sit on a railing without holding on to her? Accident no, negligent yes. I didn't say it was intended, but there were several checkpoints in his actions where common sense should have kicked in. ...

      You have really good points, about the Grandpa picking her up and putting her on a railing.    Just last week, there was a news article (and a thread on Royal Caribbean CC board), about a woman who stood on her balcony railing to take a selfie On a Royal Caribbean cruise.   She and her travel partner were put off the ship at the next port. 
 

       The article mentioned Royal’s Guest Conduct policy (“ Unsafe Behavior: Sitting, standing, lying or climbing on, over or across any exterior or interior railings or other protective barriers, ... for guest safety is not permitted”).    Baby should not have been on the railing.  

 

This is such a tragic case.  My heart breaks for that poor baby girl.  

[erdoran]

And torturing the poor family further doesn’t bring the baby back.  The grandfather lives in a prison of guilt.  The family has lost a baby, should they also lose a parent?  Enough is enough!!

 

 

[richstowe]

19 minutes ago, erdoran said:

And torturing the poor family further doesn’t bring the baby back.  The grandfather lives in a prison of guilt.  The family has lost a baby, should they also lose a parent?  Enough is enough!!

Honestly I could possibly agree with you IF the family was not actively pursuing a lawsuit against  RC . They are so my sympathy is vastly reduced . Having a 5*@ing lawyer and trying to divert blame doesn't cut it . 

 

BTW,  I still wonder why is this thread on the CC Norwegian site instead of Royal .

Edited October 30, 2019 by richstowe

[erdoran]

I agree about the lawsuit....people are sue-happy these days.  I think the whole family should spend their time grieving for that poor baby, rather than suing or defending grandpa.  How awful for everyone!

[purpleally]

24 minutes ago, erdoran said:

And torturing the poor family further doesn’t bring the baby back.  The grandfather lives in a prison of guilt.  The family has lost a baby, should they also lose a parent?  Enough is enough!!

 

 

Enough is clearly not enough. He was negligent. Yes, I feel badly for the family but it didn’t need to happen. And maybe they will stop that money grab lawsuit

[beerman2]

38 minutes ago, erdoran said:

And torturing the poor family further doesn’t bring the baby back.  The grandfather lives in a prison of guilt.  The family has lost a baby, should they also lose a parent?  Enough is enough!!

 

 

But yet it looks like a lawsuit is going forward. Should the parents receive a monetary settlement for grandpa doing something stupid?

 

Enough is enough , have the lawyer DROP all suits. Then it WILL cease.

[beerman2]

23 minutes ago, richstowe said:

Honestly I could possibly agree with you IF the family was not actively pursuing a lawsuit against  RC . They are so my sympathy is vastly reduced . Having a 5*@ing lawyer and trying to divert blame doesn't cut it . 

 

BTW,  I still wonder why is this thread on the CC Norwegian site instead of Royal .

I believe all threads concerning this are not allowed by CC on RCI threads.

[Two Wheels Only]

24 minutes ago, richstowe said:

BTW,  I still wonder why is this thread on the CC Norwegian site instead of Royal .

 

Any mention of the topic gets deleted on the Royal forum.

 

The topic lives here.

[NLH Arizona]

48 minutes ago, erdoran said:

And torturing the poor family further doesn’t bring the baby back.  The grandfather lives in a prison of guilt.  The family has lost a baby, should they also lose a parent?  Enough is enough!!

 

 

If it weren't for his actions, the little girl would be alive.  He needs to sit in prison and think about his actions.  Maybe I'd feel differently if he would have just admited what happened in the beginning and ask for forgiveness, but that didn't happen and he and his family are trying to place the blame elsewhere.