Collision near stadium kills motorcyclist

By Times Staff Writer
Published December 17, 2007

TAMPA - A 36-year-old Palm Harbor man was killed Sunday when the motorcycle he was driving crashed into a car just north of Raymond James Stadium.

Mitchell Shane Estep was driving a motorcycle south on N Dale Mabry Highway about 3 p.m. when he turned onto W Cayuga Street, police said. Estep hit the right side of a 2004 four-door Suzuki, driven by Mark Anthony Joseph Modugno, 28, of Cape Coral.

Estep, who was not wearing a helmet, was thrown from the motorcycle and landed in the road. He was unconscious when rescue crews arrived. He was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital and pronounced dead.

Amid heavy traffic - which police attributed to the nearby Tampa Bay Buccaneers game - other vehicles heading south on Dale Mabry had stopped to let the Suzuki turn onto Cayuga Street. But Estep moved into the right turn lane and accelerated, police said.

Police were still investigating the crash late Sunday.

[Last modified December 17, 2007, 00:41:28]