PIERRE, SD (AP) – South Dakota’s Republican attorney general is charged with reckless driving after beating and killing a man with his car, authorities said Thursday.
Jason Ravnsborg is also facing charges of misconduct of driving a motor vehicle while using a mobile electronic device and driving out of his lane, Hyde County Deputy Attorney Emily Sovell announced. Authorities said he did not speak on his phone during the crash.
Each charge is punishable by up to 30 days in prison and up to a $ 500 fine, Sovell said.
Sovell said the evidence did not support more serious charges such as manslaughter or manslaughter. She noted that nothing showed that Ravnsborg was intoxicated during the accident. She also said that the state to prove manslaughter had to show that Ravnsborg ‘consciously and unjustifiably’ ignores a material risk.
Ravnsborg said he is confident he did not commit a crime, and that he did not drink before the accident. He gave a blood sample and handed over his electronic devices to investigators. In a toxicological report of a sample taken about 15 hours after the accident, no alcohol was shown in Ravnsborg’s system.
Boever’s family questioned Ravnsborg’s report and expressed frustration when five months elapsed, they waited to find out if he was facing charges.
Nick Nemec, Boever’s cousin, said Thursday he was “disappointed, but not surprised” by the prosecutor’s decision. He called South Dakota law “weak” when it comes to manslaughter. He said he expected family members to take civil action against Ravnsborg.
“I was afraid the charge would be something in the order of the white line,” Nemec said. “And that’s exactly what the charge was.”
Beadle County State Attorney Michael Moore, who assisted in the case, said the Boever family had been notified of the decision in advance.
“I do not feel good about it, but it is the right decision,” Moore said.
He added: “When someone dies, of course we want to know what happened. But we are limited by the investigation and by the facts. And we can not force anyone to tell us. I mean, there’s just nowhere else to go. ‘
Ravnsborg did not immediately comment.
Ravnsborg, who was elected to his first term in 2018, initially told authorities he thought he had hit a deer or other large animal when he drove to Pierre late on September 12 from a Republican fundraiser. He said he did not realize he had killed a man until he returned to the crash scene the next day.
Collision investigators said Ravnsborg was distracted in November when he turned on the shoulder of the highway where 55-year-old Joseph Boever was walking. But prosecutors took months to make a charge decision in the crash, with an investigation considering the GPS data from cell phones, video footage along Ravnsborg’s route and DNA evidence.
An accident reconstruction expert from Wyoming and the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation assisted the South Dakota Highway Patrol in the investigation. Such accidents will usually be investigated by the South Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which provides answers at the Attorney General’s office. The other agencies undertook the investigation to prevent a conflict of interest.
South Dakota law requires pedestrians to walk on the side of the road facing oncoming traffic when walking near highways like the one where the accident took place.
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This story has been corrected to remove an erroneous mention that Ravnsborg could face up to a year in prison. prosecutor said each of the three offenses is punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a fine.