Dalai Lama’s Nephew Killed on Florida Highway
Jigme Norbu (msnbc.msn.com)
Dalai Lama’s nephew, Jigme K. Norbu, was killed along a Florida highway during one of his journeys meant to bring awareness to the struggle of Tibet toward independence from People’s Republic of China.
Norbu was hit on Monday night on the side of unlit highway by a SUV, while walking on the white line in the same direction as the traffic, Highway Patrol accident reports states.
Norbu, 45, was living in Bloomington, Indiana, and was a member of a Tibetan rights group in the city, called Ambassadors for World Peace.
Walk for Tibet (tibetsun.com)
He started on Monday along with other activists a Valentine’s Day “Walk for Tibet,” intended to cover 300 miles from St Augustine to West Palm Beach.
He was killed 25 miles south of St Augustine, on State Highway A1A, and was already dead when the emergency services arrived at the scene.
The driver of the SUV who killed him was Keith R. O’Dell, 31, from Palm Coast, who was with his 5-year-old son. Neither of them two were hurt, and no charge was brought against O’Dell. A phone listing of the driver was yet to be found.
Jigme Norbu was the son of Dalai Lama’s brother Taktser Rinpoche, and was not at his first walk that promoted Tibetan wish for freedom, walking 900 miles in 2009 from Indiana to New York City, in a march that commemorated the 50th failed Tibetan rebellion against the Chinese.
His father was a high lama at the time of the rebellion, and after fleeing the country into exile became a professor of Tibetan studies at Indiana University in Bloomington.
