A tourist from London spotted a film crew near John’s Pass and walked over to ask what they were shooting.
A documentary, they replied, about the deaths of 35 people in the freighter crash that collapsed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in May 1980.
“We asked if he’d heard about it,” said producer Frank VanDeBoe, 60. “He said, ‘I know all about that drunk SOB captain who crashed.’ ”
The exchange reinforced the producers’ motive for making the film: A freak weather formation, not alcohol, was blamed in the crash and Capt. John Lerro was exonerated.
Lerro’s attorney, Steve Yerrid of Tampa, is co-producing the documentary with VanDeBoe.