Incident on the Disney Dream Cruise Ship
The mother of a 5-year-old girl who fell off the Disney Dream cruise ship in June will not face a criminal charge, the Broward State Attorney’s Office decided. The family, who live outside of Florida, was taking photos about 11:30 a.m. June 29 on Deck 4, which features a wraparound exercise track and some areas with porthole windows.
The girl climbed onto the railing in front of one of the windows, turned around to face her mother and tumbled backward, 49 feet down into the ocean while traveling from the Bahamas to Port Everglades at about 12 mph, according to a State Attorney’s Office close-out memo obtained by the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Monday.
Circumstances Surrounding the Incident
Many other portholes on the ship the mother had taken photos with were blocked with glass barriers, and she assumed the openings on Deck 4 were similarly enclosed, the memo says she told investigators after the incident. The girl’s father didn’t see the fall; he jumped overboard to rescue the girl after hearing his wife scream, according to the memo and an earlier statement from the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
The ship’s man overboard alarm sounded only after the father jumped, and crew members tossed life rings into the water as the ship began to turn around to recover the father and daughter, the memo said. A rescue boat entered the water at 11:40 a.m. and picked them up nine minutes later.
Rescue and Medical Treatment
In total, the girl and her father, 37, were treading water for about 20 minutes before they were treated by medical staff aboard the ship, the Broward Sheriff’s Office previously said. Once the ship docked at Port Everglades the following day, they were taken to Broward Health Medical Center, where a doctor diagnosed the girl with mild hypothermia and mild lactic acidosis but no other injuries, the memo said.
The father had two spinal fractures from his landing in the water and repeated efforts to pull the girl to the surface while treading to stay afloat. The State Attorney’s Office declined to file a count of child neglect against the mother, as “all evidence shows that it was merely accidental,” the memo said.
Investigation and Decision
“Parents and caregivers of children are not held to a standard of perfection under the law. While the defendant was irresponsible, her act of facilitating the victim’s position on the railing was an isolated incident that resulted from a momentary lapse in proper judgment and unawareness of surrounding circumstances,” Assistant State Attorney in Charge Melissa Kelly wrote.
Angie DiMichele, Orlando Sentinel
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