Lapse of ‘proper judgment,’ but mother won’t face charges in daughter’s Disney cruise ship fall

Disney Dream
Disney Dream FILE PHOTO: Disney Dream Leaving Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. A child fell overboard from the ship as it returned to port on June 29. Her father jumped in after her. Both were rescued. (Darryl Brooks/dbvirago - stock.adobe.com)

A 5-year-old girl’s mother will not face charges, despite prosecutors accusing her of being "arguably negligent and irresponsible" for having her daughter pose near a Disney cruise ship’s open porthole.

The little girl fell overboard and her father jumped into the ocean to save her. Both were rescued from the water.

The incident happened on June 29 as the Disney Dream was sailing from the Bahamas to Fort Lauderdale, the Broward County state attorney’s office said, according to The New York Times.

Many people blamed the girl’s parents for her falling overboard from the ship’s fourth deck.

Melissa Kelly, the assistant state attorney who works on cases of child fatalities and abuse, said the family was on their first cruise together and was exploring the ship, walking around its running track.

The mother was taking photos of her daughter when the girl climbed the railing near a porthole, which the mother assumed had a glass barrier.

“The mother ... pointed to the port hole railing and the daughter climbed on the railing and sat down. The daughter lost her balance and fell backward off the railing into the ocean,” Kelly’s report stated, according to WTVJ.

The little girl lost her balance and fell through the hole, into the water 49 feet below.

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...” WTVJ reported.

The girl had taken swim lessons but was unable to swim. Her father, who was about 10 feet away from his wife and daughter, jumped in, triggering the man overboard alarm. The girl was too small to trigger the alert, The New York Times reported.

He called her name once he hit the water and was able to find and keep her afloat until rescue crews from the ship got to her.

The rescue boat was launched about 10 minutes after the girl fell in and the father and daughter were taken from the water by 11:49 a.m., Kelly’s memo said.

The daughter was kept in the ship’s medical facilities for about 9 hours after she was brought back onto the ship, while her father was kept there until docking the next day. He suffered from hypothermia, lactic acidosis and two spinal fractures. The girl had mild hypothermia and lactic acidosis.

Kelly said the incident was an unfortunate accident and not intentional neglect.

“While the defendant’s conduct is arguably negligent and irresponsible, it does not rise to the egregious level of conduct necessary to establish criminal culpable negligence,” Kelly wrote in the memo.

She said the mother was irresponsible, but that it was a “momentary lapse in proper judgment.”

The mother faulted Disney Cruise Line for the incident, saying that there should be coverings on the portholes, WTVJ reported.

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