News: Robert Shepherd Previous Sisseton-Wahpeton Tribal Chairman Dies from Fatal Car Accident 😢
South Dakota Department of Public Safety spokesperson Tony Mangan said Shepherd was associated with a single automobile crash soon prior to 8 a.m. after he lost control, entered into a ditch and struck a power pole on a county roadway 10 miles south of Sisseton, S.D. Shepherd was taken to a local hospital in Sisseton and later on airlifted to a Fargo, N.D. healthcare facility where he passed away on Sunday.
" Former Chairman Shepherd left us too quickly. He has joined his ancestors in the stars," Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Tribal Chairman Delbert Hopkins, Jr. said.
Shepherd functioned as tribal chairman of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate-- a federally recognized people with almost 14,000 tribal people-- from 2011-2015. From 1996 to 2004, he served in the U.S. Navy. Shepherd later on received a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree.
" He was an educated young guy who mentioned the value of Dakota worths and wanted absolutely nothing more than to serve his individuals to the very best of his capability. He will be considerably missed by his enjoyed ones and his neighborhood," Hopkins said.
Committed to his tribal citizens, equipped with his MBA degree, Shepherd supervised the building of a new tribal administration building and secured a $500,000 grant from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. The grant funds were used to establish the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Community Memorial Park, which was built on the previous grounds of the former Tekawitha Orphanage.
Shepherd was happy of the park that was established to serve tribal youth with a recreational area and other tribal people a location to pray.
" When I think of the Great Plains people and all people in the United States, I consider a sleeping giant. It is time to awaken this sleeping giant and fight for the life that we pick; for our ancestors and for our future generations that nobody can disregard or take far from us," Shepherd said in his 2011 inaugural address. "Being a fight veteran I defended their democracy and now I am house and will fight for the sovereignty of our Oyate."
While representing a tribe from the Great Plains, Shepherd made pals with tribal leaders from around Indian Country. While he was tribal chairman, Shepherd was elected recording secretary of the National Congress of American Indians.
Lance Gumbs, vice chairman of the Shinnecock Tribe, based upon Long Island, N.Y. remembers the very first time he met Shepherd. They were at a nationwide conference and Shepherd wished to learn more about the wampum chokers Gumbs and fellow east coast tribal leaders were wearing.
" He was interested in hearing our history and all about the wampum chokers were wearing," Gumbs told Native News Online. "A couple of weeks later we saw him at a National Indian Gaming Association conference and approached us using a wampum and stated he was our sibling. The concept he looked into out where to buy it and show us indicated a lot to me."
Gumbs said he will miss out on Shepherd's smiling face and his relationship. "He was about humbleness with the right behavior."
" He was liked throughout Indian Country and our hearts are all breaking due to the fact that he was destined to do a lot more for the advantage of all of Indian Country," Hedi Hitchcock (Ojibwe), an auto accident lawyer who works Indian Country. "He was a fantastic individual and a true good friend to all that understood him, and he liked his people, his family, and friends a lot. To lose somebody that was so special to many individuals is devastating and such a difficult blow to all of us."
"It's unexpected and when I awakened to a message that he remained in a car accident, I absolutely lost it ... I didn't want to look at the rest of the message," Hitchcock continued. " Former Chairman Shepherd left us too soon. "
This tragic car accident isn’t only a life-changing event for Robert’s tribe and family but for thousands of families every day. My question is, what happened, why did Robert lose control of his vehicle to cause him to lose his life?
- Was he distracted driving?
- Was it a faulty tire that blew out?
- Did a drunk driver run him off the road, then drove off?
- Did he have machinal issues with his vehicle while driving?
It could be thousands of things but without a top quality auto accident law firm or fatal car accident lawyer, you may never know.
If your family member was in a fatal car accident stay tuned for the latest top-rated auto accident attorney or wrongful death attorney list.
