Volunteer Firefighter Dies in Bearss Avenue Crash

A 25-year-old Tampa man is dead following a Friday evening crash on Bearss Avenue near Lake Emerald Boulevard in the Lake Magdalene area.

Geoffrey B. Dawson was riding a motorcycle west on Bearss “at a high rate of speed and in a careless manner,” wrote Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Debbie Carter in an email to media. Dawson is said to have passed between cars traveling side by side twice before the accident occurred.

As Dawson continued westbound, a set of vehicles approached a green light at Lake Emerald Boulevard. A 2012 Ford Focus driven by Catherine Nicholas, 27, of Brandon made a left turn from eastbound Bearss. Deputies say she did not see Dawson as she turned.

“While turning, the motorcyclist passed between the two vehicles at a high rate of speed,” Carter wrote. “The front of the motorcycle struck the front of the Ford Focus.”

Dawson was thrown from the bike and died later at St. Joseph’s Hospital. He was a volunteer with the Hillsborough County Fire Rescue, Carter said.

Nicholas and her passenger, Darien Grant, 31, were taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital with minor injuries.