South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, who hit a pedestrian on his way home, has a history of speeding and other traffic violations.
Ravnsborg called police late Saturday night to report he hit a deer on his way home.
The body of 55-year-old Joseph Boever was found on a rural stretch of U.S. Highway 14 the next morning.
The Department of Public Safety issued a statement Monday that said Ravnsborg called police to say he’d hit a deer in the roadway.
Ravnsborg was driving from a GOP fundraiser dinner in Redfield to his home about 110 miles away in Pierre, spokesman Tim Bormann said.
The spokesman said Ravnsborg frequently attended the fundraiser dinners held by the Spink County Republicans at Rooster’s Bar & Grill.
While Ravnsborg is known to drink occasionally he was not drinking at the fundraiser. “I didn’t see him with anything but a Coke,” said state Sen. Brock Greenfield, who attended the dinner.
Ravnsborg received six speeding tickets in South Dakota between 2014 and 2018, according to DPS.
The victim, Joseph Boever, had crashed his truck into a hay bale near the road while reaching for tobacco, according to his cousin Victor Nemec.
Nemec gave Boever a ride home, about 1.5 miles away after 9 p.m. Saturday. The accident happened while Boever was walking back to his truck around 10:30 p.m..
When Boever’s relatives hadn’t heard from him on Sunday, they saw a report about a fatal accident near where Boever left his truck, and they feared that he was involved.
Victor Nemec said he called the sheriff about 10 a.m. and was told to wait. Hours went by without a call back. Nemec said the family grew suspicious and called 911 and the Highway Patrol after 5 p.m. They were allowed to view the body and make the identification after 8 p.m. Sunday.
“I don’t know if cousin Joe was laying on the highway for 22 hours or if they had bagged him up before that,” Nemec said.
“A human doesn’t look like a deer. The whole thing stinks to me.”
