Port Richey motorcycle rider, 48, dies after hitting back of pickup

SPRING HILL — A 48-year-old Port Richey man died when he drove his motorcycle into the back of a pickup truck that was stopped at a red light on U.S. 19, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

The crash occurred just before 8 p.m. Monday at U.S. 19 and Berkeley Manor Boulevard in Spring Hill.

The motorcycle rider was headed south on U.S. 19, failed to slow for the stopped pickup and collided with the back of the vehicle, the Highway Patrol said. He was wearing a helmet. He later died from his injuries at a hospital.

The pickup driver, a 29-year-old New Port Richey woman, was not injured.

The Highway Patrol did not release the names of the two because of its interpretation of Marsy’s Law, a voter-approved amendment to the state Constitution that was meant to protect crime victims but that deprives the public of information long available under Florida’s public records law.