I think this story came out in the mid 1980's, before internet. It wasn't printed in any "respectable" newspaper or carried on any "respectable" newscast.
But millions heard about it. How did that happen? It must have been a psyop.
I'm not saying it didn't happen, but the spread of the story was orchestrated. I heard about it as a teenager in Michigan. Geres controllers must have been specifically trying to harm his reputation. I wonder what he did to piss them off.