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2 Charged In Party Linked To Fatality

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By JOSH POLTILOVE and SAMARA SODOS, The Tampa Tribune News Channel 8

Published: October 2, 2007

Video: Victim's Mother, Classmates React

TAMPA - Eight days into her college career, Plant High School graduate Mary Grace Taaffe died from injuries in a wreck that occurred while she drove under the influence.

Mary Grace Taaffe

On Sunday, a month after the wreck, the Florida Highway Patrol charged Florida Gulf Coast University students Nicholas Charles Herrig and Kevin Michael Curtin, both 19, with misdemeanor charges of hosting an open house party. Taaffe left the party minutes before the fatal wreck.

Other charges are pending against partygoers Tyler Fry, Brian Cochran and Brett Griffin, a highway patrol release states. The three 'gave false statements to law enforcement' about what they knew about the party and crash, according to the patrol's report released Monday.

Taaffe, 18, of Tampa, was pronounced dead Aug. 31 after she lost control of her 1998 BMW on northbound U.S. 41 near Fort Myers.

The Florida Gulf Coast freshman crashed about two miles from the party, the patrol stated. An incident report concluded that Taaffe had a blood-alcohol level of 0.139. Florida law presumes a driver is intoxicated at 0.08.

Taaffe's mother, Davis Islands resident Mary Bruce Taaffe, said she and her husband didn't want the teens charged. She said the blame rests squarely on her daughter.

'It was the worst choice of her life. An out-of-the-blue choice,' Taaffe said Monday. 'It was Mary Grace's mistake, and she would hate that other people were blamed for it. But it's the law, and it's out of our hands.'

The report by Trooper George Kantor said Curtin acknowledged that Taaffe was drinking rum and Red Bull at the party and that he saw her leave several times to refill her drink.

'There was alcohol being consumed at the party and no person was 21 year of age, or older,' Kantor wrote.

If convicted of the second-degree misdemeanor, Herrig and Curtin could face up to 60 days in jail.

In the crash, Mary Grace Taaffe was not wearing a seat belt when her car veered off the road into a stand of trees on the east side of U.S. 41, Kantor said. Passenger Erin Brittany Reid, 18, of Tampa, was treated at Lee Memorial Hospital for minor injuries and released.

Taaffe, former captain of Plant High's cheerleading squad, aspired to work at the United Nations. She attended Florida Gulf Coast so she could be close to home.

Her memorial was held at a Tampa church. More than 1,000 people attended.

Taaffe is survived by her parents, an older brother and younger twin sisters.

Robert Johnson, her family's spokesman and a lawyer, said Sunday's charges surprised the family. Johnson said the family does not plan any civil action against the men.

Taaffe's father, Malcolm, called her a 'beautiful, beautiful girl' and said his family is struggling to deal with her death. He didn't want to judge Herrig and Curtin, saying that's the way his daughter would have preferred it.

'She would want us to celebrate her life, and she wouldn't want us to condemn those guys,' Malcolm Taaffe told the Naples Daily News. 'Everyone deserves a second chance.'

Information from the Naples Daily News was used in this report. Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691 or jpoltilove@tampatrib.com. News Channel 8 reporter Samara Sodos can be reached at (813) 314-5379 or slsodos@wfla.com.

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