Hit-and-Run Victim Buried Today

The body of Lymeng Lim, who died Feb. 15 in a Tucker pile-up, was laid to rest this morning in Canton, Ga.

Lim, 47, was killed instantly when his car was hit by a still unidentified driver who then fled the scene. Witnesses reported seeing the driver traveling at a high rate of speed. Three other cars that were stopped at a red light also were struck and two people were injured.

The accident happened at the intersection of Lynburn Drive and Lawrenceville Highway, which was completely shut down for about an hour. Lim, who lived in Tucker with his sister Siv Lang Chang, was taking his father to see a doctor.

“It was such a senseless death,” the dead man's brother, Meng Lim, told the Times-Georgian, “but I want people to know his story. I don’t want his death to be a waste.”

Meng Lim said that his family moved to the United States from Cambodia in 1981 to escape the oppressive Khmer Rouge administration led by Pol Pot. Meng recounted how his older brother was sent to a camp at the age of 12 and forced to assist the military, and was then tortured.

"He was given an AK-47 and was told to patrol a part of the Vietnamese-Cambodian border throughout the night as a night watch,” Meng said. “My brother fell asleep. The penalty was cigarette burns up and down his legs.”

The Lim family settled in Bremen, Ga. where Lymeng attended Bremen High School and West Georgia College. He joined the U.S. Navy after September 11, 2001 and at the time of his death was working to obtain an M.B.A.

“When my brother graduated from high school, he dreamed of enlisting in the U.S. Army to give back to a country that delivered him from unspeakable misery,” Meng said. He added that his brother's time in the U.S. military "was the happiest and best memories of his life. He was so proud.”

Read Lymeng Lim's obituary here.