The attorney general of South Dakota was charged with three misdemeanors following his fatal collision with a pedestrian in September.
Jason Ravnsborg, a Republican who was elected to the chief legal officer role in 2018, was charged on Thursday with careless driving, unsafely driving outside a lane, and using his phone while driving. Authorities said Ravnsborg was not using his phone when the crash took place.
All three charges are class 2 misdemeanors and are punishable by up to 30 days in prison. Hyde County Deputy State’s Attorney Emily Sovell announced the charges at a press conference.
Ravnsborg’s spokesman, Mike Deaver, told the Rapid City Journal that his boss does not plan to resign and needs to look at the charging documents and evidence before commenting further to the media.
The family of Joseph Boever, the victim, expressed dismay over the delay in charges being released.
911 CALL RELEASED FROM FATAL CRASH INVOLVING SOUTH DAKOTA ATTORNEY GENERAL
“They obviously don’t like our decision in this case, but as we all know, victims don’t make this decision,” said Beadle County State’s Attorney Michael Moore, who helped Sovell evaluate the case. “I don’t feel good about it, but it’s the right decision.”
Sovell said there was no evidence that Ravnsborg was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash, adding that driving outside of his lane doesn’t meet the legal definition of “reckless” required for a second-degree manslaughter charge.
On the evening of Sep. 12, Ravnsborg called 911 to let emergency services know he had hit something in the road.
“I’m the attorney general, and I am, I don’t know, I hit something,” he said. “It was in the middle of the road.”
When asked by the dispatcher whether the thing he hit could have been a deer, he responded, “I have no idea, could be. I mean, it was right in the roadway.”
“Evidence shows that Mr. Boever was walking on the north shoulder of U.S. Highway 14 carrying a light,” Department of Public Safety Secretary Craig Price said at a news conference in November. “While Mr. Ravnsborg was traveling westbound, the investigation shows that he was distracted, entered the north shoulder of the U.S. Highway 14, and struck Mr. Boever with his vehicle.”
Price also said in November that what distracted Price at the time of the crash was still under investigation.
“I looked around the vehicle in the dark and saw nothing to indicate what I had hit,” Ravnsborg said in a statement on Sep. 14. “All I could see were pieces of my vehicle laying on and around the roadway. Because it was dark and I didn’t have a flashlight, I used my cellphone flashlight to survey the ditch but couldn’t see anything.”
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Hyde County Sheriff Mike Volek surveyed the scene of the accident and allowed Ravnsborg to use his personal car to drive home. It wasn’t until Ravnsborg returned to the scene the next day that he said he discovered Boever’s body.
“I am shocked and filled with sorrow following the events of last night,” he said at the time. “As Gov. [Kristi] Noem stated, I am fully cooperating with the investigation, and I fully intend to continue to do so moving forward. At this time, I offer my deepest sympathy and condolences to the family.”
