Update on this! The speculation can come to a close. It was the mom’s fault 
I am still so beyond thankful that everyone ended up safe!!
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This is why I was hesitant to blame the father. (Not that I think the mother needs to get more grief either.) In general I wish as a society that we were better at accepting that accidents happen and sometimes no one is truly at fault, even if they unintentionally triggered the chain of events. I’m sure the mom had no intention of pushing her daughter over the edge, as reckless as setting her on the railing might have been.
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From the article:
According to the memo, Sapp told investigators after returning to Port Everglades that she believed the window had a glass barrier as she had taken numerous photos of her daughter before on the ship in front of similar windows that had glass barriers.
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Wow …
According to the memo, it took a rescue boat about three minutes to launch after a mayday call was issued, and the father and daughter were rescued from the water about nine minutes after that.
The father told investigators that he called out to his daughter when he landed in the water and she responded. After locating her in the water, he held onto her as he treaded water. Flotation devices were then thrown down from surrounding areas to assist them until the rescue boat could reach them.
According to the memo, the girl’s mother said her daughter has taken swim lessons before but did not know how to swim.
The father and daughter were checked out at the ship’s medical center before being transported to Broward Health Medical Center by BSO Fire Rescue after arriving at Port Everglades.
According to the memo, the child “presented mild hypothermia and minor lactic acidosis, however she sustained no injuries.” The memo stated that the father was diagnosed with hypothermia, lactic acidosis and had two spinal fractures from jumping overboard.
Kelly stated in the memo that while Sapp’s actions were “arguably negligent and irresponsible, it does not rise to the egregious level of conduct necessary to establish criminal culpable negligence.”
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falling about 49 feet down into the ocean
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For some of the parental accidents that I’ve seen prosecuted I find this difficult to believe.
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My wife and I were talking about this. Like, change the color of their skin, and it probably would have ended up in jail time. I get that accidents happen, but the inconsistency in who ends up prosecuted and not, often where race seems to be an obvious factor, is disturbing.
I am not even suggesting that this mother should be prosecuted. I think ANYTIME a parent is prosecuted for lapses in judgement, it is concerning. So, why are we still seeing, in 2025, a disproportionate number of black parents prosecuted but not white, despite similar lapses of judgement?
But if it is going to happen, this particular case seems like it should be one! This mother was completely negligent in behavior, admittedly multiple times, and then lied about the whole situation…in the meantime her child could have died and/or lost at sea.
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I agree with this 100 times.
This also gives the false impression that somehow Disney Cruise Line was negligent and that there was no poor parental behavior. It also expended expensive rescue resources.
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There was this incident on Royal Caribbean in 2021. Grandfather was prosecuted.
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Thinking about it, one major difference is in the 2021 case the child died.
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I’m late to this thread but there are so many similar stories in Hawaii travel forums about how people lose their judgment on vacations leading to tragedy.
I visited the Grand Canyon in the winter where there was still snow and ice.
I remember watching a group of tourists standing on a sloped incline maybe 15 feet from a full stop unobstructed cliff edge on packed snow topped with a layer of ice. We had been slipping and sliding on all the paths and walkways all day.
they had their backs to the ledge with someone taking a group pic.
Ice. Slope. Ledge. Death.
All I could think of was the book Into Thin Air where a climber stepped out of his tent without his crampons, and slid off the mountain to his death.
I was scared for them.
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I am pretty sure there was also ship camera evidence of the grandfather leaning somewhat out the open window before holding the child up that disproved his claim that he didn’t realize the window was open.
Darwinism.
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