‘Justice for Jose’: Family mourns Palm Harbor man killed in Clearwater ferry crash

Ferry rides had only recently become a pastime for Jose Castro, who enjoyed the cheap tickets and relaxing ride after long shifts as a U.S. Postal Service worker, relatives said.That turned tragic Sunday.Castro, 41, was the sole person killed aboard a Clearwater ferry that was plowed from behind by another boater.Nearly a dozen others were injured after Jeff Knight, the operator of the 37-foot center console boat and a prominent local businessperson, struck the ferry carrying 45 people, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which is investigating. Knight consented to a Breathalyzer test, which authorities said registered no alcohol in his system.No one has been arrested in the wake of the crash, described as a maritime hit-and-run in early accounts by police. Castro’s family doesn’t understand why.“I want this guy to pay for what he did, for what we’re going through right now,” said Castro’s sister, Sandy Todd. “My family is destroyed.”Todd said she and her brother emigrated from Peru about 20 years ago, when Castro was 18. As his older sister, she was protective of him. Family was important to Castro even back then. After the births of his two daughters, they became his entire life, Todd said.Telling the girls — Ivory, 8, and Jolene, 3 — that their father was gone devastated them, said their mother, Jenny Hernandez.Jolene is too young to understand what’s happening, she said, but her older sister is distraught.“She’s just crying for her dad,” Hernandez, 27, said. “She was just in shock. She couldn’t believe that there was an accident and that he was the only one that didn’t survive.”Castro took his daughters everywhere, the family said. After school each day, he would bring them to the YMCA, where he would work out and they would play with the other kids. He often took the girls to a nearby park, the public pool and Chuck E. Cheese.At home, Castro would dance and sing to salsa music with the girls.“He dedicated his life to just being the best father to them,” Hernandez said. Castro didn’t like the beach, the water or the hot Florida sun. So family members were surprised to learn he had been aboard the ferry, touted as a safer alternative to busy roads and highways. The family’s grief mixed with outrage as more details about the collision surfaced this week. Todd said it was difficult to watch video of the crash, which circulated on social media before Clearwater police released an edited version Monday.The time-stamped video recorded by a city web camera at Coachman Park shows the boat crashing into the back of the ferry at 8:40 p.m. It then pulled away from the ferry and remained in the area as the ferry appeared to drift.The Pirate’s Ransom, a tourist cruise ship that had been heading north when the crash happened, pulled close and shone a spotlight on the ferry. The blue boat that had hit the ferry circled around and pulled closer to the ferry as it drifted into shallower water near the south side of the Clearwater Causeway.Seeing the wreckage, the cruise ship’s crew called the Coast Guard and scanned the water for people needing rescue, said Tom Leogrande, a manager at the Clearwater tour company, have been.Luckily, many people on the ferry had made it to a nearby sandbar after another boat had nudged the vessel toward shallower waters, Leogrande said. Leogrande listened from the shore as his crew described the scene over the radio. He couldn’t tell whether the boat that had pushed the ferry to safety was the same one responsible for the crash. Investigators couldn’t yet answer that question either, they said Monday.“If it was another person nearby … they’re heroes," Leogrande said. “If it was the boat that hit them, at least that shows you that they thought about it a minute before they took off.”At 8:48 p.m., first responder vehicles, lights flashing, came into camera view as they crossed the causeway on the way to the scene. Some stopped on the bridge.At 8:50 p.m., the boat that officials say was operated by Knight began to slowly motor away from the scene, heading south out of the camera’s view at 8:53 p.m.Video that appears to have been shot by a bystander from atop the causeway and posted to Facebook showed the blue boat backing away from the ferry as the two vessels are near the shoreline. By then, at least two marked emergency vehicles, lights flashing, had arrived and sat parked near the water, and more emergency vehicles were pulling up. There is no timestamp on that video.Investigators found the boat 3½ miles away at the Belleair boat ramp. Wildlife officials said “approximately six passengers” were on board the boat, but they haven’t released their identities.The agency is working with the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney’s Office to determine if the incident fits the legal definition of a hit-and-run.State Attorney Bruce Bartlett declined to comment on the case, pending his office’s investigation.Knight, who owns St. Petersburg concert venue Jannus Live, has a history of run-ins with the law. He has been arrested three times on charges of driving while impaired, records show. He pleaded no contest each time and received probation and fines.In 2012, Knight was on his yacht, Pure Knight Life, in the waters off the Renaissance Vinoy Resort with a group of friends after a night of partying, police said, when one of them fell off the boat. The man hit his head on the way down and drowned . The Medical Examiner’s Office found the man had alcohol and cocaine in his system.Knight’s prior record aroused the family’s suspicions.“This is a rich businessman that seems like he could do whatever he wants,” said Castro’s brother-in-law, Kenny Rodriguez. “I’m just sick of it. How do you do this and just drive away? I’m very angry.”“I want justice for Jose,” he added. Knight’s attorney, J. Kevin Hayslett, sent a letter to investigators on Tuesday that says Knight did not commit a hit and run. The letter states that Knight had someone on board call 911 after the crash and that he stayed on scene and offered help until first-responders arrived. The letter says Knight left the scene because his boat was taking on water and he feared it might sink.The letter also suggests that the ferry was not properly lit and that the crew and passengers were distracted by dolphins just before the crash. A statement posted to social media by Jannus Live on Tuesday referred to the crash as an “accident” and asked that “judgment be reserved” until the investigation is completed.“Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families and all those impacted during this incredibly difficult time,” the statement said.Castro, who had been employed with the U.S. Postal Service for about four years, worked as a clerk at its Tampa distribution center.“The Postal Service is deeply saddened by the loss of our postal family member. Our sincere condolences and thoughts go out to his family, friends and co-workers,” a spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement.The rest of Castro’s family, including his elderly mother, are flying in from Peru this week, relatives said. They have set up a GoFundMe page to help cover travel costs and funeral expenses.“If we could raise a lot of money, we’d like to pay for the girls’ college,” Rodriguez said. “They’ve lost the only breadwinner in their family. Who’s going to take care of those kids for the rest of their lives?” Times staff writers Zachary T. Sampson, Emily L. Mahoney, Michaela Mulligan, Tony Marrero and Teghan Simonton contributed to this report.