BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- An 18-year-old died in a motorcycle crash in Bellingham a half-hour after passing his motorcycle license test.



Police spokesman Mark Young says David Swift of Sumas lost control Saturday after passing a car. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.



Whatcom County Medical Examiner Gary Goldfogel says speed and inattention may have contributed to the fatality.



The Bellingham Herald reports Swift was the youngest of seven children. He was a 2011 graduate of Nooksack Valley High School who hoped to join the Air Force in the spring.



Swift and a brother, who was on another motorcycle, had decided to take a curvy road after he passed his motorcycle test.



More than 200 people attended a spontaneous memorial for Swift on Sunday night at Riverside Park in Everson.



-- The Associated Press

