Ex-Plant High cheerleader dies in highway accident

By MICHAEL A. MOHAMMED, Times Staff Writer
Published September 1, 2007

TAMPA - A young woman who helped cheer the Plant High Panthers to victory last year died in a car accident early Friday.

Mary Grace Taaffe, 18, lost control of her 1998 BMW while driving north on U.S. 41 in Estero, according to a Florida Highway Patrol news release.

The car crashed into a stand of trees along the shoulder of the Lee County road, ejecting Taaffe, who was not wearing a seat belt, the patrol said. She died soon after at Lee Memorial Hospital.

Authorities said alcohol was involved in the accident.

A passenger, 18-year-old Erin Reid of Tampa, survived the crash and was released from the hospital Friday, said Jenifer Elliott, Taaffe's aunt, who spoke for the grieving family.

Taaffe grew up on Davis Islands and graduated from H.B. Plant High School in May.

Taaffe moved to Fort Myers in August to attend Florida Gulf Coast University, her sister, Gloria Taaffe, 15, said.

State records show that between July 2006 and April 2007 Taaffe was stopped for speeding four times, but convicted in only one instance.

Therelease describes a single-car accident. But Elliot said Taaffe's father found fragments from another car at the scene and spoke to a woman living nearby who said she saw a second vehicle. The family is talking to troopers about that, she said.

[Last modified August 31, 2007, 23:31:23]