Healthcare community mourns the death of Smithfield woman killed in hit-and-run

SMITHFIELD, R.I. (WLNE) — The health care community is mourning the loss of a fellow nurse, 25-year-old Aliana Ciacciarelli, who was killed Monday night in a hit-and-run in Smithfield.

A memorial on Pleasant View Avenue, where the crash happened, is now growing by the day.

“Absolute disbelief. Her future was so bright,” said Heather White, a former co-worker of Ciacciarelli’s. “She just got a condo, she just got a cat, she’s been with her boyfriend for years and I know she was talking about him proposing soon.”

White worked with Ciacciarelli at Kent Hospital.

Ciacciarelli was a nurse in the emergency room at Kent before recently taking another job.

“When I first came in she was just fierce as a nurse,” said White. “She fearlessly took care of her patients, always put them first, was always there to lend a helping hand if you needed it. Her smile was infectious and her laugh was out of this world.”

White said Ciacciarelli took her and all of the other new nurses under her wing and was always there when you needed her.

“Coming into somewhere new as a nurse in such an environment that requires so much of someone, to have someone there for you for whatever you needed, which is what Aliana was, is very unique,” said White.

Police said they identified the driver of the tractor trailer but no arrests have been announced.

Smithfield police are actively investigating.