A grieving mother is calling for justice after her son was killed in a ferry accident in Clearwater, Florida.
Jose Castro, a 41-year-old father of two from Pinellas County, died on Sunday night when a private boat collided with the water taxi he was riding in, leaving ten others injured.
His mother, Carmen Ullore, rushed from Peru to Tampa upon hearing the tragic news.
“I can’t sleep at night,” she shared, her voice breaking. “I keep waking up calling for my son, thinking he’ll suddenly be there.”
“We need justice,” she emphasized. “There must be accountability in this country… My son’s death cannot go unpunished.”
The boat operator, Jeffrey Knight, has not faced criminal charges yet. He attributed the accident to poor lighting on the ferry and suggested the crew was distracted by dolphins.
Castro’s sister, Sandy Todd, strongly criticized Knight’s claims, expressed in his lawyer’s letter to local authorities.
“What he did was kill my brother in that crash,” she stated, adding, “No excuse will bring him back.”
Knight also denied fleeing the scene, claiming his boat had to leave as it was carrying an 8-week-old baby.
He subsequently passed a sobriety test, and no alcohol was found in his system.
