WTF?!? DPS: South Dakota Attorney General reported hitting a deer, but man's body discovered the next morning
- Thread starter jward
- Start date
bev
Has No Life - Lives on TB
I hit a deer once, 6:20 pm on a winter night (dark), going about 50 mph, on my way to work. Actually, the deer hit me. It came out of the woods on the right side of the road, hit the right front corner (bumper/fender) and cracked it, leaving some hair in the crack. I saw it run off so I wasn’t too concerned about it, but I had to pull over for a bit until my heart rate got back into a survivable range.
It seems this AG took a long time to get from the party to wherever he lives. That may play into the equation. Anyone know the distance?
ETA: Nevermind, it looks to be a long drive. 3 hours.
It seems this AG took a long time to get from the party to wherever he lives. That may play into the equation. Anyone know the distance?
ETA: Nevermind, it looks to be a long drive. 3 hours.
Maybe the deer's sunglasses stuck in his windshield wipers were confusing him?
Yeah, my thoughts. Of course Dead Guy laying in the road might have been wearing Tan clothing and, in the right circumstances [[like laying dead in the raod]] might resemble a Deer at night. AG runs over him again and continues on thinking he hit a deer. No point in checking if he figured the deer wasalready dead or he might not be the type to Harvest the meat anyway.
I hit a dead deer hauling my Jeep on a Trailer driving a 21ft Uhaul. Day light, busy highway and no place to stop-hitting it was unavoidable and it was already dead.
Hit a rest stop to camp for the night-bit later a Trooper pulls up and asks if I'm ok. He'd seen me trying to not hit the Dead deer.
Also busted up the fender and a tire on the trailer with the Jeep so had to call Uhaul to send someone out for repairs.
It might be just as he says-thought it was a deer and called it in.
Freeholder
This too shall pass.
If he wasn't carrying a gun, what would he put it out of it's misery with? I hit a deer once, and stopped (had to, as it pushed the front end of my little old Subaru in and ruined the radiator), and it thrashed in the road for about twenty minutes before it died. I didn't have a firearm with me at the time, and it would have been too dangerous to get close to it so I could cut it's throat with my knife. We lived WAY out, and I'd called a friend for help; by the time he got there with a gun, the deer was already dead.
Kathleen
Read some of my thoughts just above this post-also, 'Put it out of it's Misery" with what? Not everyone carries a firearm and choking a wounded animal out the size of a Deer? Not impossible but unlikely something many can do. Beat it's brains in with a tire iron? Have you seen the flimsy things they put in modern cars as tire tools and how many can actually keep their shit together when beating the brains out of a living being-seeing the eyes explode or pop from their sockets, hearing the thud and crack of bone and flesh, hearing the animal scream? Go buy a Rabbit and give it a try sometime and see.
Freeholder
This too shall pass.
It's not just that, Sat, although physical ability to actually humanely kill an animal that size can be a factor. The deer I mentioned above had antlers -- a mule deer weighs several hundred pounds, and an antlered and hoofed animal of that size thrashing around frantically is downright dangerous to approach. I would have put it out of it's misery if I could have.
Kathleen
bw
Fringe Ranger
He turned down his brights because the glare was making it difficult to read his phone.
jward
passin' thru
Yes, around here its normal to call in if you hit a deer. The animal is dispatched if necessary, and there are usually people on a list waiting for their opportunity to process the free meat...and as was pointed out, it helps a bit with claims.
Thats what seemed weird to me, that it wasn't until the next day that anyone was out / on scene. Well that and the fact i am pretty sure this was a twilight zone episode
Thats what seemed weird to me, that it wasn't until the next day that anyone was out / on scene. Well that and the fact i am pretty sure this was a twilight zone episode
mzkitty
I give up.
Also, the attorney general has a history of speeding (see link):
*snip*
2. Boever’s Cousin Says Boever Was Walking Down the Side of the Road When He Was Struck & Killed
Boever’s cousin Victor Nemec told the Argus Leader that he was planning to help fix Boever’s truck because it was damaged when Boever hit a hay bale. But Boever couldn’t be found.
“The attorney general hit my cousin as he was walking down the side of the road and killed him,” he said, adding that he thinks Boever was walking to the truck when he was struck and killed.
Ancestry.com records show Boever was married in 2017. According to Bloomberg, Boever lived alone and was separated from his wife.
heavy.com
*snip*
2. Boever’s Cousin Says Boever Was Walking Down the Side of the Road When He Was Struck & Killed
Boever’s cousin Victor Nemec told the Argus Leader that he was planning to help fix Boever’s truck because it was damaged when Boever hit a hay bale. But Boever couldn’t be found.
“The attorney general hit my cousin as he was walking down the side of the road and killed him,” he said, adding that he thinks Boever was walking to the truck when he was struck and killed.
Ancestry.com records show Boever was married in 2017. According to Bloomberg, Boever lived alone and was separated from his wife.
Joseph Boever: Man Struck & Killed by South Dakota Attorney General
Joseph "Joe" Boever was named as the man struck and killed by a car driven by the South Dakota Attorney General.
heavy.com
adgal
Veteran Member
A couple of things that stand out to me - first, Boever had hit a hay bale with his pickup earlier in the day. He had to call his cousin to come and get him. The truck was several yards off the road in the grass. The cousin (Nick Nemec - former Democratic state representative) told him that he would go out with him - the next day - to fix it. Boever, for some reason, decided to walk back to his truck in the middle of the night - 11 p.m. - alone.
I've driven through South Dakota at night - it's very dark. I'm not saying that the AG didn't do it - but I am saying there's a lot to be investigated.
Fair use cited:
www.rawstory.com
But the victim’s family is demanding justice.
“A deer doesn’t look like a human,” said Boever’s cousin former state Rep. Nick Nemec (D-SD), according to the Dickinson Press. “My cousin got run over by the Attorney General.”
Nemec said that he went with his brother to identify Boever’s body on Sunday evening, about 20 hours after the incident occured.
“We’ve got questions why it took so long to contact us,” Nemec said. “Was our cousin laying dead on the highway for nearly a day while they were investigating? I don’t know.”
Nemec heard Ravnsborg’s apology and said that it “irritated the hell” out of him.
“He offered his condolences to the family of the victim before they even knew who the victim was,” he said. “I saw that statement sometime Sunday afternoon, at kind of the same time we were coming to the realization that the victim was our cousin, and he already offered a statement of condolences to the family, and he didn’t even know who the family was, because we hadn’t identified the body yet.”
Nemec recalled that on Saturday, Boever said he hit a hay bale with his white Ford pickup on Highway 14, damaging it. He thinks that his cousin was “probably walking back to the pickup from his home in Highmore when he was struck by Ravnsborg.”
“All I can think of, was Joe decided to walk back out to his pickup and straighten the bumper himself,” he said.
Read the full interview at The Dickinson Press.
I've driven through South Dakota at night - it's very dark. I'm not saying that the AG didn't do it - but I am saying there's a lot to be investigated.
Fair use cited:
‘A deer doesn’t look like a human’: Family of South Dakota Republican’s victim demands justice
When South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg reported that he "hit a deer," what he actually hit was 55-year-old Joe Boever and his family members are demanding answers.According to the Rapid City Journal, details are thin after Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) briefed the public on the hit-and-run...
www.rawstory.com
But the victim’s family is demanding justice.
“A deer doesn’t look like a human,” said Boever’s cousin former state Rep. Nick Nemec (D-SD), according to the Dickinson Press. “My cousin got run over by the Attorney General.”
Nemec said that he went with his brother to identify Boever’s body on Sunday evening, about 20 hours after the incident occured.
“We’ve got questions why it took so long to contact us,” Nemec said. “Was our cousin laying dead on the highway for nearly a day while they were investigating? I don’t know.”
Nemec heard Ravnsborg’s apology and said that it “irritated the hell” out of him.
“He offered his condolences to the family of the victim before they even knew who the victim was,” he said. “I saw that statement sometime Sunday afternoon, at kind of the same time we were coming to the realization that the victim was our cousin, and he already offered a statement of condolences to the family, and he didn’t even know who the family was, because we hadn’t identified the body yet.”
Nemec recalled that on Saturday, Boever said he hit a hay bale with his white Ford pickup on Highway 14, damaging it. He thinks that his cousin was “probably walking back to the pickup from his home in Highmore when he was struck by Ravnsborg.”
“All I can think of, was Joe decided to walk back out to his pickup and straighten the bumper himself,” he said.
Read the full interview at The Dickinson Press.
ShadowMan
Designated Grumpy Old Fart
I was wondering if are there any Native American Reservations in that area of South Dakota. A lot of drunk Indians get hit down in New Mexico/Arizona and Southwestern Reservations.....that said. Personally, I think the AG was drinking and this is his way to cover up the event. Just my two cents.
BUBBAHOTEPT
Veteran Member
Of all places, SD... 
Was he wearing gray clothing walking down a gray highway after sundown? Under the right conditions, you might not even see him.
I have come close to wasting more than one cyclist because they don't have the brains to wear white or deer hunter orange during times of poor visibility.
I have come close to wasting more than one cyclist because they don't have the brains to wear white or deer hunter orange during times of poor visibility.
Sportsman
Veteran Member
South Dakota seems to have a problem of some sort with Attorney Generals. I remember this well from 2009.
Janklow Gets 100 Days in Jail for Killing Scott
After running a stop sign at speed and killing Randy Scott, former governor and congressman Bill Janklow gets just 100 days in jail.
ve months after running a South Dakota stop sign at high speed and colliding with motorcyclist Randy Scott and killing him, former South Dakota Governor and U.S. Congressman, now convicted felon, William Janklow was sentenced to just 100 days in jail, followed by three years of probation, during which he will not be allowed to drive.
The statute under which 64-year-old Janklow was convicted for second-degree manslaughter sets no mimimum sentence. The range of possible sentences that Judge Rodney Steele could have imposed on Janklow ranged from nothing to 11 years behind bars and/or a an $11,400 fine. Options included probation, loss of drioving priviledges, restitution and community service. The average sentence is around seven years. The judge had a detailed presentencing report to help determine the sentence. He also heard from Scott's family and Janklow supporters.
Scott's family has also filed suit for unspecified damages.
Janklow resigned from his congressional seat two days before his sentencing.
Motorcyclists who feel that the sentence was excessively lenient may attempt to boycott South Dakota's largest tourist event, the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.
The American Motorcyclist Association expressed disappointment with the verdict in the following release:
_**AMA REACTS TO JANKLOW SENTENCE **
PICKERINGTON, Ohio -- The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) reports that former U.S. Rep. Bill Janklow (R-SD), who was convicted December 8, 2003, of second-degree manslaughter and three other counts related to a traffic crash that claimed the life of a Minnesota motorcyclist, was sentenced today to 100 days in the Minnehaha County Jail. Janklow will not have to spend time in the South Dakota State Penitentiary, and he could be eligible for a work-release program after 30 days in jail.
On Saturday, August 16, motorcyclist Randolph Scott of Hardwick, Minnesota, was killed in a collision with a car driven by Janklow. The fatal crash took place at the intersection of two county roads in eastern South Dakota. Reports released by investigators indicated that Janklow's car, traveling at speeds estimated at more that 70 mph, did not stop at the stop sign and continued into the path of the motorcycle, giving the rider no chance to avoid the fatal collision.
Janklow's resignation from the U.S. House of Representatives took effect on January 20, 2004.
"The AMA is extremely disappointed with this sentence," said Edward Moreland, AMA Vice President for Government Relations. "This South Dakota court has handed down a judicial insult to motorcyclists nationwide, and to the memory of Randolph Scott, the motorcyclist who paid the price for Mr. Janklow's criminal conduct."
According to a recent Associated Press review of South Dakota court records dating back to 1989, 80 percent of those convicted of second-degree manslaughter have been sent to jail or prison. Average jail time was six months, and the average prison term was almost seven years.
In the days following the accident, the AMA called on motorcyclists nationwide to contact South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds and Attorney General Larry Long, urging them to seek justice in the case. Using AMA Rapid Response, motorcyclists and other concerned citizens can send e-mail messages directly to South Dakota officials. AMA Rapid Response, which allows users to contact lawmakers, government officials and the media with the click of a button, is available on the Association's website, AMADirectlink.com.
The AMA notes that tragic crashes like the one involving Janklow, in which a car or other vehicle violates the right of way of a motorcycle, are all too common on the nation's highways. The most comprehensive study ever conducted into motorcycle accidents found that nearly 75 percent of motorcycle accidents involve another vehicle, and that in almost two-thirds of those crashes, the cause could be traced to the other vehicle violating the motorcyclist's right-of-way.
For more than a year, the AMA has been involved in a campaign called Motorcyclists Matter that focuses attention on the dangers faced by motorcyclists and other vulnerable road users, including bicyclists and pedestrians, as a result of drivers who violate their right-of-way. The Association is also campaigning in Washington, D.C., for funding for a new study into the causes of motorcycle accidents -- the first in more than two decades.
www.motorcyclecruiser.com
From Wikipedia:
William John Janklow (September 13, 1939 – January 12, 2012) was an American politician and member of the Republican Party who holds the record for the longest tenure as Governor of South Dakota: sixteen years in office. Janklow had the third-longest gubernatorial tenure in post-Constitutional U.S. history at 5,851 days.[1]
Janklow served as the 25th Attorney General of South Dakota from 1975 to 1979 before serving as the state's 27th Governor from 1979 to 1987 and then the 30th Governor from 1995 to 2003. Janklow was then elected to the United States House of Representatives, where he served for a little more than a year. He resigned in 2004 after being convicted of manslaughter for his culpability in a fatal automobile accident.
Janklow Gets 100 Days in Jail for Killing Scott
After running a stop sign at speed and killing Randy Scott, former governor and congressman Bill Janklow gets just 100 days in jail.
ve months after running a South Dakota stop sign at high speed and colliding with motorcyclist Randy Scott and killing him, former South Dakota Governor and U.S. Congressman, now convicted felon, William Janklow was sentenced to just 100 days in jail, followed by three years of probation, during which he will not be allowed to drive.
The statute under which 64-year-old Janklow was convicted for second-degree manslaughter sets no mimimum sentence. The range of possible sentences that Judge Rodney Steele could have imposed on Janklow ranged from nothing to 11 years behind bars and/or a an $11,400 fine. Options included probation, loss of drioving priviledges, restitution and community service. The average sentence is around seven years. The judge had a detailed presentencing report to help determine the sentence. He also heard from Scott's family and Janklow supporters.
Scott's family has also filed suit for unspecified damages.
Janklow resigned from his congressional seat two days before his sentencing.
Motorcyclists who feel that the sentence was excessively lenient may attempt to boycott South Dakota's largest tourist event, the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.
The American Motorcyclist Association expressed disappointment with the verdict in the following release:
_**AMA REACTS TO JANKLOW SENTENCE **
PICKERINGTON, Ohio -- The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) reports that former U.S. Rep. Bill Janklow (R-SD), who was convicted December 8, 2003, of second-degree manslaughter and three other counts related to a traffic crash that claimed the life of a Minnesota motorcyclist, was sentenced today to 100 days in the Minnehaha County Jail. Janklow will not have to spend time in the South Dakota State Penitentiary, and he could be eligible for a work-release program after 30 days in jail.
On Saturday, August 16, motorcyclist Randolph Scott of Hardwick, Minnesota, was killed in a collision with a car driven by Janklow. The fatal crash took place at the intersection of two county roads in eastern South Dakota. Reports released by investigators indicated that Janklow's car, traveling at speeds estimated at more that 70 mph, did not stop at the stop sign and continued into the path of the motorcycle, giving the rider no chance to avoid the fatal collision.
Janklow's resignation from the U.S. House of Representatives took effect on January 20, 2004.
"The AMA is extremely disappointed with this sentence," said Edward Moreland, AMA Vice President for Government Relations. "This South Dakota court has handed down a judicial insult to motorcyclists nationwide, and to the memory of Randolph Scott, the motorcyclist who paid the price for Mr. Janklow's criminal conduct."
According to a recent Associated Press review of South Dakota court records dating back to 1989, 80 percent of those convicted of second-degree manslaughter have been sent to jail or prison. Average jail time was six months, and the average prison term was almost seven years.
In the days following the accident, the AMA called on motorcyclists nationwide to contact South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds and Attorney General Larry Long, urging them to seek justice in the case. Using AMA Rapid Response, motorcyclists and other concerned citizens can send e-mail messages directly to South Dakota officials. AMA Rapid Response, which allows users to contact lawmakers, government officials and the media with the click of a button, is available on the Association's website, AMADirectlink.com.
The AMA notes that tragic crashes like the one involving Janklow, in which a car or other vehicle violates the right of way of a motorcycle, are all too common on the nation's highways. The most comprehensive study ever conducted into motorcycle accidents found that nearly 75 percent of motorcycle accidents involve another vehicle, and that in almost two-thirds of those crashes, the cause could be traced to the other vehicle violating the motorcyclist's right-of-way.
For more than a year, the AMA has been involved in a campaign called Motorcyclists Matter that focuses attention on the dangers faced by motorcyclists and other vulnerable road users, including bicyclists and pedestrians, as a result of drivers who violate their right-of-way. The Association is also campaigning in Washington, D.C., for funding for a new study into the causes of motorcycle accidents -- the first in more than two decades.
Janklow Gets 100 Days in Jail for Killing Scott
Five months after running a South Dakota stop sign at high speed and colliding with motorcyclist Randy Scott and killing him, former South Dakota Governor and U.S. Congressman, now convicted felon, William Janklow was sentenced to just 100 days in jail, followed by three years of probation...
www.motorcyclecruiser.com
From Wikipedia:
William John Janklow (September 13, 1939 – January 12, 2012) was an American politician and member of the Republican Party who holds the record for the longest tenure as Governor of South Dakota: sixteen years in office. Janklow had the third-longest gubernatorial tenure in post-Constitutional U.S. history at 5,851 days.[1]
Janklow served as the 25th Attorney General of South Dakota from 1975 to 1979 before serving as the state's 27th Governor from 1979 to 1987 and then the 30th Governor from 1995 to 2003. Janklow was then elected to the United States House of Representatives, where he served for a little more than a year. He resigned in 2004 after being convicted of manslaughter for his culpability in a fatal automobile accident.
Bubble Head
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Not enough information The AG story has holes and the victims cousin spins a story that has holes. Can't see this guy walking around the road at 10:30 at night, gets hit and body lies there without anyone else seeing it doesn't make sense but maybe it is just that simple is why it doesn't make sense. Going to have to have more information.
Ractivist
Pride comes before the fall.....Pride month ended.
I’ll say this...if I’m walking down a dark unlit stretch of road, my eyes are on coming traffic. My feet are in full heads up. I’m already ten feet off the hard road...and on the incoming lane side.
You ain’t gonna hit me, situational awareness ten point o.
You ain’t gonna hit me, situational awareness ten point o.
jward
passin' thru
‘I Discovered the Body’: South Dakota’s Attorney General Offers New Crash Details
Jason Ravnsborg, the attorney general, elaborated on what happened after his car struck something on a dark highway, saying he returned in the morning to find the dead man, Joe Boever, 55, nearby.
Jason Ravnsborg in Sioux Falls, S.D., in 2014. “I have not made a statement before now because the matter is being investigated,” he said late Monday about a fatal car crash two days earlier.Credit...Dirk Lammers/STF, via Associated Press
By Marie Fazio
It contained his startling revelation that he had personally found the body of Joe Boever, 55, of Highmore, S.D., the morning after he and the local sheriff had failed to find what they had assumed was a deer late Saturday night.
“I discovered the body of Mr. Boever in the grass just off the roadway,” Mr. Ravnsborg wrote, adding that “it was apparent that he was dead.
In the two days after the crash, the authorities and Mr. Ravnsborg’s office did not discuss in detail what happened immediately after the impact, including the condition of the vehicle, a 2011 Ford Taurus, or whether he had looked for what it had struck.
The new statement, released at 10 p.m. Monday, filled in more details, describing the search in the dark, noting that the car had been “severely damaged” and revealing that Mr. Ravnsborg had borrowed the sheriff’s personal car to get home, then returned the next morning with his chief of staff, Tim Bormann.
“I have not made a statement before now because the matter is being investigated,” Mr. Ravnsborg said, “and I want to respect that process and let it happen without any interference or appearance of impropriety on my part.” The attorney general oversees the Division of Criminal Investigation, which typically assists the Highway Patrol on investigations.
He said he decided to provide more information to “dispel some of the rumor and innuendo that are being spread in the wake of this tragedy.” His office and the local authorities declined to answer further questions about the new statement on Tuesday.
The matter is under investigation by the state Highway Patrol, which is being assisted by the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation, with oversight by Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota, who took it over Sunday to avoid any conflicts of interest. She and Mr. Ravnsborg are Republicans.
Mr. Ravnsborg’s new statement tracked with the account already released by Ms. Noem and the authorities on Sunday and Monday. After leaving a Republican dinner in Redfield at 9:15 p.m. Saturday, he wrote, he was driving home alone on U.S. Highway 14 near Highmore, S.D., around 10:30 p.m. when he struck “something that I believed to be a large animal (likely a deer). I didn’t see what I hit and stopped my vehicle immediately to investigate. I immediately called 911.”
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Looking around in the darkness, Mr. Ravnsborg wrote, “All I could see were pieces of my vehicle laying on and around the roadway.” He shone his phone flashlight at the ditch but could not see anything, he said.
The Hyde County sheriff, Mike Volek, arrived, surveyed the damage and filled out the paperwork to report the accident, the attorney general wrote. “At no time did either of us suspect that I had been involved in an accident with a person,” he said. The sheriff could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
The car was too damaged to drive, he wrote, and the nearest tow service was more than an hour away, so Sheriff Volek “graciously offered to loan me his personal vehicle” to drive home to Pierre, S.D. He got there at midnight and made arrangements with his chief of staff to return the car the next morning, he said.
The next morning, as the men were driving to the sheriff’s house, they saw debris from the Taurus on the highway, so they “stopped to see if the animal that I thought I hit was in the ditch,” he wrote. After finding Mr. Boever in the grass, they went and told the sheriff, who sent the men back to Pierre, pending the investigation.
The attorney general also detailed in his statement the steps he had taken to cooperate: giving a face-to-face interview with investigators; agreeing to a blood draw and a search of both his cellphones; and providing a list of “anyone at the dinner who can confirm that I was not drinking alcohol at any time during the event.”
Adding that he was “deeply saddened by the tragic nature of these events,” he once again offered condolences to the dead man’s family.
Mr. Boever’s relatives could not be immediately reached Tuesday. His cousin, Nick Nemec, said Monday that he had worked stints as a nurse’s aide and at a grocery store, but was most recently employed helping a relative haul hay on his cattle farm. Mr. Nemec was not sure why his cousin was out walking by the highway on Saturday night, but he speculated that he may have decided to walk to his pickup, which was disabled after running into a ditch on the highway.
Mr. Ravnsborg has held the position of attorney general since 2018, when he was elected with just over 55 percent of the vote. He ran in the Republican primary for a United States Senate seat in 2014 but was not chosen as the nominee.
The Investigation in South Dakota
posted for fair use
www.nytimes.com
Jason Ravnsborg, the attorney general, elaborated on what happened after his car struck something on a dark highway, saying he returned in the morning to find the dead man, Joe Boever, 55, nearby.
Jason Ravnsborg in Sioux Falls, S.D., in 2014. “I have not made a statement before now because the matter is being investigated,” he said late Monday about a fatal car crash two days earlier.Credit...Dirk Lammers/STF, via Associated Press
By Marie Fazio
- Sept. 15, 2020
It contained his startling revelation that he had personally found the body of Joe Boever, 55, of Highmore, S.D., the morning after he and the local sheriff had failed to find what they had assumed was a deer late Saturday night.
“I discovered the body of Mr. Boever in the grass just off the roadway,” Mr. Ravnsborg wrote, adding that “it was apparent that he was dead.
In the two days after the crash, the authorities and Mr. Ravnsborg’s office did not discuss in detail what happened immediately after the impact, including the condition of the vehicle, a 2011 Ford Taurus, or whether he had looked for what it had struck.
The new statement, released at 10 p.m. Monday, filled in more details, describing the search in the dark, noting that the car had been “severely damaged” and revealing that Mr. Ravnsborg had borrowed the sheriff’s personal car to get home, then returned the next morning with his chief of staff, Tim Bormann.
“I have not made a statement before now because the matter is being investigated,” Mr. Ravnsborg said, “and I want to respect that process and let it happen without any interference or appearance of impropriety on my part.” The attorney general oversees the Division of Criminal Investigation, which typically assists the Highway Patrol on investigations.
He said he decided to provide more information to “dispel some of the rumor and innuendo that are being spread in the wake of this tragedy.” His office and the local authorities declined to answer further questions about the new statement on Tuesday.
The matter is under investigation by the state Highway Patrol, which is being assisted by the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation, with oversight by Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota, who took it over Sunday to avoid any conflicts of interest. She and Mr. Ravnsborg are Republicans.
Mr. Ravnsborg’s new statement tracked with the account already released by Ms. Noem and the authorities on Sunday and Monday. After leaving a Republican dinner in Redfield at 9:15 p.m. Saturday, he wrote, he was driving home alone on U.S. Highway 14 near Highmore, S.D., around 10:30 p.m. when he struck “something that I believed to be a large animal (likely a deer). I didn’t see what I hit and stopped my vehicle immediately to investigate. I immediately called 911.”
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Looking around in the darkness, Mr. Ravnsborg wrote, “All I could see were pieces of my vehicle laying on and around the roadway.” He shone his phone flashlight at the ditch but could not see anything, he said.
The Hyde County sheriff, Mike Volek, arrived, surveyed the damage and filled out the paperwork to report the accident, the attorney general wrote. “At no time did either of us suspect that I had been involved in an accident with a person,” he said. The sheriff could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
The car was too damaged to drive, he wrote, and the nearest tow service was more than an hour away, so Sheriff Volek “graciously offered to loan me his personal vehicle” to drive home to Pierre, S.D. He got there at midnight and made arrangements with his chief of staff to return the car the next morning, he said.
The next morning, as the men were driving to the sheriff’s house, they saw debris from the Taurus on the highway, so they “stopped to see if the animal that I thought I hit was in the ditch,” he wrote. After finding Mr. Boever in the grass, they went and told the sheriff, who sent the men back to Pierre, pending the investigation.
The attorney general also detailed in his statement the steps he had taken to cooperate: giving a face-to-face interview with investigators; agreeing to a blood draw and a search of both his cellphones; and providing a list of “anyone at the dinner who can confirm that I was not drinking alcohol at any time during the event.”
Adding that he was “deeply saddened by the tragic nature of these events,” he once again offered condolences to the dead man’s family.
Mr. Boever’s relatives could not be immediately reached Tuesday. His cousin, Nick Nemec, said Monday that he had worked stints as a nurse’s aide and at a grocery store, but was most recently employed helping a relative haul hay on his cattle farm. Mr. Nemec was not sure why his cousin was out walking by the highway on Saturday night, but he speculated that he may have decided to walk to his pickup, which was disabled after running into a ditch on the highway.
Mr. Ravnsborg has held the position of attorney general since 2018, when he was elected with just over 55 percent of the vote. He ran in the Republican primary for a United States Senate seat in 2014 but was not chosen as the nominee.
The Investigation in South Dakota
posted for fair use
‘I Discovered the Body’: South Dakota’s Attorney General Offers New Crash Details
Jason Ravnsborg, the attorney general, elaborated on what happened after his car struck something on a dark highway, saying he returned in the morning to find the dead man, Joe Boever, 55, nearby.
David Nettleton
Veteran Member
Could it be that the victim was the intoxicated party in this accident?
That's usually the case. Sometimes it's the driver AND the victim, but you can most often count on the victim being drunk. This exact scenario is a pretty common mishap out in Boonie-land. Then, consider that in the Dakotas and other places out in the wide-open, people travel at serious speed at night.
jward
passin' thru
Report: South Dakota official distracted before fatal crash
38 minutes ago
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg was distracted before he drove onto a highway shoulder where he struck and killed a pedestrian in September, state Secretary of Safety Craig Price said Monday.
Price said 55-year-old Joseph Boever was walking on the side of the road and displaying some type of light on the night of Sept. 12 when he was struck by Ravnsborg’s 2011 Ford Taurus. Price did not describe what led Ravnsborg to become distracted.
Ravnsborg told a 911 dispatcher that he hit “something” in the middle of the road when Boever was killed. Boever’s relatives believed he was walking on the highway shoulder toward his truck that had crashed earlier that evening.
When a 911 dispatcher asked if it could have been a deer, Ravnsborg initially said, “I have no idea” before adding, “It could be.”
Ravnsborg initially told a county sheriff dispatched to the crash site near Highmore in central South Dakota that he thought he struck a deer on U.S. Highway 14. He said he returned to the scene the next morning and discovered he had struck a man.
Ravnsborg is a Republican, serving his first term in office after winning election in 2018.
The investigation is still waiting on numerous reports, including a coroner’s summary and toxicology results, Price said. The speed limit at the site of the crash was 65 mph (105 kph), but it is unclear how fast Ravnsborg was driving.
The attorney general was driving home to Pierre from a Republican fundraiser some 110 miles (180 kilometers) away in Redfield. Ravnsborg had said he had nothing to drink.
A toxicology report taken roughly 15 hours after the crash showed no alcohol in Ravnsborg’s system, although at least one expert said that would have been enough time for alcohol to leave the body of someone who had been drinking heavily.
A preliminary autopsy report showed Boever died from extensive traumatic injuries from the crash. His relatives have questioned Ravnsborg’s version of events.
A crash reconstruction expert from Wyoming and the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation assisted the South Dakota Highway Patrol in the investigation.
Such accidents would ordinarily be investigated by the South Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which answers to the attorney general’s office. The other agencies took on the investigation to avoid a conflict of interest.
Ravnsborg has continued to work as attorney general.
posted for fair use
apnews.com
38 minutes ago
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg was distracted before he drove onto a highway shoulder where he struck and killed a pedestrian in September, state Secretary of Safety Craig Price said Monday.
Price said 55-year-old Joseph Boever was walking on the side of the road and displaying some type of light on the night of Sept. 12 when he was struck by Ravnsborg’s 2011 Ford Taurus. Price did not describe what led Ravnsborg to become distracted.
Ravnsborg told a 911 dispatcher that he hit “something” in the middle of the road when Boever was killed. Boever’s relatives believed he was walking on the highway shoulder toward his truck that had crashed earlier that evening.
When a 911 dispatcher asked if it could have been a deer, Ravnsborg initially said, “I have no idea” before adding, “It could be.”
Ravnsborg initially told a county sheriff dispatched to the crash site near Highmore in central South Dakota that he thought he struck a deer on U.S. Highway 14. He said he returned to the scene the next morning and discovered he had struck a man.
Ravnsborg is a Republican, serving his first term in office after winning election in 2018.
The investigation is still waiting on numerous reports, including a coroner’s summary and toxicology results, Price said. The speed limit at the site of the crash was 65 mph (105 kph), but it is unclear how fast Ravnsborg was driving.
The attorney general was driving home to Pierre from a Republican fundraiser some 110 miles (180 kilometers) away in Redfield. Ravnsborg had said he had nothing to drink.
A toxicology report taken roughly 15 hours after the crash showed no alcohol in Ravnsborg’s system, although at least one expert said that would have been enough time for alcohol to leave the body of someone who had been drinking heavily.
A preliminary autopsy report showed Boever died from extensive traumatic injuries from the crash. His relatives have questioned Ravnsborg’s version of events.
A crash reconstruction expert from Wyoming and the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation assisted the South Dakota Highway Patrol in the investigation.
Such accidents would ordinarily be investigated by the South Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which answers to the attorney general’s office. The other agencies took on the investigation to avoid a conflict of interest.
Ravnsborg has continued to work as attorney general.
posted for fair use
Report: South Dakota official distracted before fatal crash
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg was distracted before he drove onto a highway shoulder where he struck and killed a pedestrian in September, state Secretary of Public Safety Craig Price said Monday...
apnews.com
packyderms_wife
Neither here nor there.
Well at least the state of SD got the investigation part right, the DA should have stepped down though. As for distracted driving, probably on his phone.
Secamp32
Veteran Member
A few years ago I was driving home from a system failure in the office at 3am. I came around a curve in the road there was a police car blocking the whole road. I just knew that there was a body in the road. Eventually they let us drive around on the shoulder and I could see the body in the road. There were also 3 or 4 cars stopped on the side of the road. Somebody did a hit and run and then several people came along and re-ran over the guy. They stopped and called the police.