PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 The trial for the man accused in the fatal Clearwater ferry boat crash has been delayed.<\/p>\n
Jeffry Knight is facing eight felony counts of leaving the scene of a boat crash. Each charge carries maximum sentences of up to 30 years in prison.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Investigators say Jeffry Knight was operating the boat that collided with the Clearwater Ferry on April 27, 2025. One person was killed, and several others were hurt.<\/p>\n
The trial is now scheduled to begin on Feb. 1, 2027.<\/p>\n
However, additional pretrial proceedings are set to take place. Another pretrial hearing is scheduled for July 24.<\/p>\n
Knight, who was arrested July 28, has pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n
Knight admitted he was driving his boat that night when it collided with the Clearwater Ferry near the Memorial Causeway Bridge. Jose Castro, 41, was killed in the incident.<\/p>\n
Through his attorney, Knight stated he left the scene after initially staying to help render aid because his boat was taking on water.<\/p>\n
Law enforcement officials say that a search warrant revealed that Knight\u2019s 37-foot powerboat had not taken on water following the crash.<\/p>\n
Knight\u2019s attorney previously said the ferry should have blasted a whistle or horn before the crash and suggested the ferry had more passengers onboard than allowed. He has denied any negligence or wrongdoing in the crash.<\/p>\n
FWC Capt. Matt DallaRosa stated shortly after the incident that Knight submitted to a breathalyzer test and there was no alcohol in his system.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 The trial for the man accused in the fatal Clearwater ferry boat crash has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[274,112358,265,115,596,277,275,202,204,203,199,201,200,135,278],"class_list":["post-259578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-app-top-stories","tag-clearwater-ferry-crash","tag-crime","tag-news","tag-pinellas-county","tag-public-safety","tag-spectrum-news-staff","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}