PALM COAST, Fla. – At the beginning leg of a 300-mile walk to promote Tibetan independence from China, the Dalai Lama's nephew was struck and killed by an SUV along a dark Florida coastal highway, about a quarter of a mile from where he planned to rest for the evening.
Jigme K. Norbu, 45, was headed south in the same direction as traffic, following the highway's white line when he was hit, according to the Highway Patrol. The impact crumpled the vehicle's hood and shattered the front windshield.
The driver, 31-year-old Keith R. O'Dell of Palm Coast, was not charged. He and his 5-year-old son in the SUV were not injured.
Norbu, who lived in Bloomington, Ind., and was active in a Tibetan rights group there, had started the trip with friends Monday from St. Augustine south to West Palm Beach on a highway that runs the length of the state's Atlantic coast.
