Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
JANETTE NEUWAHLAuthorities say a motorcyclist was killed Wednesday after a driver in front of him slowed to avoid furniture in the road.
TARPON SPRINGS - A couch that mysteriously landed on U.S. 19 Wednesday night was the cause of a collision that ultimately led to the death of a motorcycle driver.
Police said Jeffrey Marrs, 42, of Port Richey, was riding his 1982 Harley-Davidson northbound on U.S. 19 just north of Beckett Way in Tarpon Springs when a Toyota pickup in front of him stopped quickly.
Marrs apparently veered to the right in an attempt to avoid the truck, but still ran into the back of it. The impact threw Marrs from his motorcycle into the path of a Dodge van also traveling northbound on U.S. 19.
Tarpon Springs police arrived at the scene about 9:37 p.m., said Sgt. Jeff Young. Marrs was taken by helicopter to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, where he was pronounced dead at 12:26 a.m.
The driver of the truck, Christopher Demato, 31, told police he stopped short to avoid hitting a couch in the middle of the road. Neither he nor the driver of the van, Anjanette Smolenski, 35, will be charged, police said.
Police were still investigating how the couch was left in the center lane of U.S. 19. Charges could be filed against the person who dropped it.
Although the darkness made it difficult to see the couch, Young said that drivers should leave enough distance between themselves and the vehicles in front of them, should they need to stop.
Later Wednesday night, sheriff's deputies responded to another motorcycle accident in Palm Harbor near the intersection of Alt. U.S. 19 and Maryland Avenue in which a motorcycle driver was thrown off his bike onto the curb and may have suffered head injuries.
Police confirmed that an accident occurred and that the victim was transported by Bayflite helicopter to Bayfront Medical Center, but provided no other details late Thursday.
Staff photographer Doug R. Clifford contributed to this report.