The Washington Post has details about the accident, with video
The cyclist was traveling along the side walk on R street parallel to the trash truck, both the truck and the pedestrians got green light and a walk sign. By law she was allowed to be on the side walk, in DC you are allowed to travel on the side walk outside of the business district.
This is why we need separate the walk signals from traffic green lights. We need to move away from the traditional turn on red signaling that gives a green light to both pedestrians and car and give pedestrians a dedicated time when all traffic is at red to allow them to safely cross the street.
I wrote about this very issue in May
