Brown student killed in South Dakota

VETAL, S.D. (WPRI) - Paige Hicks, a 21-year-old senior at Brown University , was struck and killed while on a bicycle near Vetal, South Dakota, Tuesday afternoon.

Hicks was bicycling across the United States to raise money for affordable housing when she was fatally hit by a semitrailer truck along the shoulder of a road.

Hicks was a route leader in a group of riders organized by the Philadelphia-based Bike & Build nonprofit. She left Providence on June 15 to begin her 3,860-mile ride to Seattle. She had covered 2,200 miles before the accident, raising more the $4,000.

She had stopped in the shoulder of a road with her riding partner to check messages on her cell phone. That’s when an over-sized trailer attempted to pass both riders, police said.

Reports indicate that the driver saw the riders, and tried to swerve to avoid them. It was too late and the extra width of the trailer struck her.

Paige was pronounced dead at the scene. Her riding partner and the truck driver were unharmed. The accident is still under investigation.