South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, a Republican, killed a man walking on a road Saturday night, September 12, 2020, while driving home from a fundraiser, apparently scrolling through his phone instead of watching the road.
Ravnsborg left the scene, called police. and reported hitting a “deer.” (See article here.) The body of Joseph Boever, 55, was found the next day. (Read about him here.)
Ravnsborg later claimed Boever was suicidal and threw himself in front of his car (see story here).
Ravensborg, who has a long history of traffic violations, paid two $500 fines for his fatal driving encounter. He “never even appeared in a courtroom during [that] legal process,” Daily Beast says. His insurance company paid a settlement.
The governor, also a Republican, called on the GOP-controlled legislature to remove him from office. On Monday, March 28, 2022, a committee voting along party lines refused to impeach him. (See story here.)
The whole thing stinks to high heaven. The investigators didn’t believe Ravnsborg’s story; as Daily Beast notes, “Boever’s face came through the windshield of the car, and his glasses were found inside.” They couldn’t understand how he missed seeing Boever’s body “laying within two feet of the roadway.”
“He walked by a flashlight that’s on,” they said.
The GOP governor is accusing her own party’s legislators of protecting one of their own. It sure looks like that’s exactly what they’re doing.
South Dakota’s legal system is a joke, too. If you or I killed a pedestrian because we were looking at a phone instead of the road, then left the scene, we’d be convicted of vehicular homicide and felony hit-and-run, go to prison, and get our drivers licenses revoked.
But we’re not Republican politicians in a red state, and that apparently makes all the difference in the world.
Photo below: Ravnsborg’s car after the accident
