A family vacation on a Disney cruise turned into a near-tragedy when a young girl fell from the ship, prompting a dramatic rescue by her father. The incident involved Michelle and Keegan Sapp, both 37-year-old attorneys, who were celebrating their sixth wedding anniversary aboard the Disney Dream with their daughter, Elliana, in June. The cruise was traveling between the Bahamas and Fort Lauderdale when the event unfolded.

The mishap occurred when Michelle encouraged Elliana to stand on a 44-inch railing beneath an open porthole for a photo, as reported by the Daily Mail. Unfortunately, Elliana lost her balance and fell through the opening. In a heroic response, Keegan leapt into the sea just 45 seconds later, managing to keep his daughter afloat until they were both rescued.

Following the incident, detectives from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office suggested filing child neglect charges against Michelle. However, prosecutors decided not to pursue charges, viewing her actions as a lapse in judgment rather than willful neglect.

Prior to the incident, the Sapp family resided in East Northport, Long Island, New York, where both parents practiced law. They recently relocated from their $765,000 home, moving on from the harrowing experience.

Broward County Sheriff’s Office detectives recommended Michelle be charged with child neglect. But prosecutors declined after deciding her actions were more the result of a moment of poor judgement than significant neglect. 

The family lived in East Northport on Long Island, New York, where Keegan and Michelle work as attorneys, until they moved out of their $765,000 home last week. 

Keegan has worked as an associate counsel for Long Island University since 2022 and teaches at Hofstra University. He was previously an employment lawyer.

The couple grew up on Long Island. They got engaged on a trip to Paris in August 2017 and married on June 22, 2019.

Their second child, a boy aged one, was also on the cruise but was not present when his older sister plunged into the Atlantic. 

Photos posted to social media showed their tight-knit extended family celebrating holidays together and Elianna often visiting her grandmother Diane, who lives about half an hour’s drive away.

Diane is very vocal on social media, but refused to comment on the cruise ship drama when approached by the Daily Mail on Tuesday evening.  

Keegan and Michelle bought their three-bedroom, two bathroom house for $437,800 in 2018, and listed it for sale just three weeks after the cruise incident.

The home sold last week for $765,000 and movers emptied it over the weekend.

Michelle blamed Disney for her daughter’s near-death, claiming she thought the portholes were covered by plexiglass.

But Detective Christopher Favitta rejected this excuse as it was clear the porthole was open to the air.

‘This act facilitated by [Michelle] placed the child in a life-threatening situation. As a result, the child fell from the ship and into the water, in an avoidable accident,’ he wrote in his report.

Assistant state prosecutor Melissa Kelly ultimately declined to file charges as Michelle’s negligence was not deemed egregious enough.

She explained her decision in new documents released to the Daily Mail, accepting Michelle’s defense that she believed the porthole was covered.

‘This was an isolated incident, and all available evidence shows that it was merely accidental,’ she wrote in a July 31 memorandum.

‘The defendant was supervising the victim, and while her 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.

‘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 judgement and unawareness of surrounding circumstances.’

Kelly noted that taking the photo was an ‘innocent’ act and Elliana wasn’t harmed during the ordeal. 

‘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,’ she concluded.

Police were notified of the decision on September 16 and closed the case stating: ‘Due to the State Attorney’s declination of filing any charges, no arrest will be made in this case.’

Kelly’s characterization of Michelle’s negligence as an ‘isolated incident’ was despite Favitta finding evidence that it was far from the first time.

Investigators were provided with ‘numerous pictures’ from her phone that were taken in other portholes and windows around the ship.

‘She provided me with a picture of [Elliana] laying in a porthole with a window on it,’ he wrote in his report.

The prosecutor’s report also revealed Keegan suffered two spinal fractures and hypothermia from his 49ft plunge from the ship and struggle to keep his daughter above the water.

Elliana had mild hypothermia but wasn’t hurt, despite her ordeal.

Keegan appeared to have made a full recovery as he was photographed standing and leaning over during Michelle’s birthday party earlier this month.

Despite his selfless act, it was Keegan who was initially blamed for the near-death of his young daughter.

He quickly went from hero to villain in the public eye. He was pilloried online by thousands of strangers amid rumors he lifted his daughter on top of the railing for a photo. 

Some even called for him to be thrown in jail, charged with child endangerment, have his daughter taken away from him, and for his wife to divorce him.

The speculation became so frenzied that police put out an emergency statement on July 2 to debunk the wild theories.

Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony said the girl was sitting on the railing and fell backward through a porthole but that her father hadn’t put her there.

At the time, he explained that detectives were still gathering details but that his office had released what they knew so far ‘in response to misinformation’.

With the father exonerated, the public chalked up the accident to a mischievous five-year-old and an easy-to-climb railing.

However, the full police report – filed the day before Tony’s statement and obtained by the Daily Mail – revealed the sheriff left a lot out.

Both parents were questioned by two Broward County Sheriff’s deputies and gave identical accounts consistent with security camera footage.

Michelle said the family was walking along deck four at 11.29am when she pointed to the opening and ‘offered for her daughter to take a picture in the porthole’.

Despite watching her daughter fall through the opening and out of view, she spent a few seconds in disbelief before shouting to her husband.

Keegan, who was walking about 10 feet ahead of his family and didn’t see the girl fall, turned around and ‘observed his daughter in the water’.

‘He initially ran to get help but, after approximately 45 seconds, decided to jump into the ocean to attempt a rescue,’ officers wrote.

Meanwhile, Michelle ‘screamed for help and tried to maintain visual contact with both the child and her husband as the ship turned,’ the report stated.

Once in the water, Keegan realized he couldn’t see his daughter. But he was able to shout out to her and follow the sound of her yelling.

‘He was eventually able to reach her and tread water with her until they were rescued,’ the report stated.

As Elliana couldn’t swim, Keegan had to hold her above the water while they waited for rescue.

Flotation rings were thrown into the water, but they were either too far away, or the father couldn’t grab them without risking letting go of his daughter. 

The ship’s automatic man overboard alarm and the emergency code ‘Mr MOB’ blared over the intercom within two minutes of the girl falling.

Police said she was too small to be flagged by the system, which was instead triggered by her father diving in.

A mayday call was issued at 11.37am, and by 11.40am the crew had readied a yellow motorized rescue boat. The pair were plucked from the water nine minutes later.

The report stated that the father ‘expressed surprise and relief at their survival’.

Refusing to take responsibility for the incident, Michelle ‘stated that she felt like there should be coverings on the windows,’ and claimed ‘Disney is responsible for what occurred’.

Unlike viewpoints elsewhere on the ship, which are lined with smooth plexiglass from top to bottom, the portholes are open.

Under the porthole, the steel wall forms a kind of shelf, about the height of a man’s thigh, that the rest of the railing is built on top of.

The design makes it easy for even a child to climb onto the shelf, and then on top of the much shorter railing above it.