South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg (R) is facing calls to resign, as lawmakers are in the midst of filing a resolution to “remove him from such office for his crimes or three misdemeanors in office causing the death.”
Just last week, Ravnsborg was charged with careless driving, using a mobile electronic device and failing to stay in his lane. Each of these charges are misdemeanors, meaning Ravnsborg could be facing a penalty of as little as 30 days in jail and a $500 fine.
Officials have released videos of police interviews regarding a car crash Ravnsborg was involved in last year, resulting in the death of Highmore, S.D. native Joe Boever. In one of the videos, an investigator states firmly: “We know that his face came through your windshield.”
Ravnsborg has claimed that he believed he hit a deer.
“I am thinking it is a deer at this point, but I did not see anything,” Ravnsborg told investigators. “And then, quite frankly, wham. I hit, the incident happened. I never saw anything until the impact.”
When discussing his return to the site of the accident a day later, Ravnsborg said: “I initially thought I saw, it looked like a fawn or a deer in the ditch. But then I come up. It was the man. And he is not good. I mean, he is dead.”
Regarding the assertion that Boever’s face “came through [his] windshield,” Ravnsborg maintained, “I never saw him. I just believed it was a deer.”
Gov. Kristi Noem (R) said on Tuesday, “I believe the attorney general should resign.”
