Northborough native killed while riding bike to work in DC

A young woman from Northborough just starting her career in Washington D.C. was killed this morning when she was run over by a garbage truck while riding her bicycle to work.

Alice Swanson, 22, was pronounced dead at a Washington hospital after she was struck at the intersection of 20th Street and R Streets in the city's Northwest section. She was riding westbound on R Street when a garbage truck traveling in the same direction took a right and apparently didn't see her, said Officer Joshua Aldiva, a Metropolitan Police Department spokesman.

(Middle East Institute Photo)

The Institute expressed its sadness at Swanson’s death, calling her "a true spirit of friendship" in a memorial statement on their website.

"Alice's intelligence and passion for learning was rivaled only by her great warmth and friendliness," Adam Mendelson, Swanson’s former boss and the managing editor of the organization's Middle East Journal publication, said in a statement. "I can't ever recall her without a smile on her face."

Swanson’s family is left with a deep loss.

"She is so energetic and enthusiastic. She always wants to explore or travel," said her father, Brian, reached by telephone in Northborough, where Alice was born and raised. "She’s got a room full of maps here, world maps and things like that. She wanted to travel."

"I just feel that she had so many things that she wanted to do -- to help people. Now it's not going to happen."

-- John M. Guilfoil