(CNN) The man who was holding his young granddaughter when she slipped out of his grasp and fell to her death from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship said he thought there was glass in the window where they were standing. "It's like it disappeared. It's like the glass disappeared."

The grandfather of a toddler who fell to her death on a cruise ship in July has been charged with negligent homicide in her death, Puerto Rican authorities said.

In July, Salvatore "Sam" Anello was playing with his 18-month old granddaughter , Chloe Wiegand, on the 11th floor near an open window while the ship was docked in Puerto Rico.

"I bent down by her. We always, like, whenever you're at hockey games, we would bang on the glass, and it was fun, you know," Anello said in an exclusive interview with CBS News. "So, when I knelt down to be with her at that level, I couldn't reach the glass really, only with my fingertips so I knew she couldn't. So that's when I decided I'd pick her up. So, I was trying to stand her on the railing, and it happened in seconds."

The details of the toddler's death have been disputed since the accident. Port Authority officials said Anello sat the girl in the window and lost his balance, and the girl fell to her death.

Michael Winkleman, the attorney who represents Chloe's family but does not represent Anello in his criminal case, said the toddler loved glass and windows, and her grandfather had placed her on a ledge by a glass wall, but had no idea one window was open.

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