A South Dakota judge banned Governor Kristi Noem’s office from releasing additional documents and footage in connection with the investigation of a fatal car accident involving the state attorney general, just days after the release of a footage showing that the glasses of the victim were found inside the officer’s vehicle.
Jason Ravnsborg’s defense lawyers won the victory on Thursday, when a judge at the county court where the accident occurred ordered Noem and the Department of Public Security to stop the governor’s plan to release more documents from the accident investigation, he said. the Argus Leader.
Ravnsborg, the state’s chief law enforcement officer, is facing three counts of misdemeanor for allegedly hitting a Highmore man with his car on September 12 – then claiming that he initially thought he was a deer.
GLASSES OF THE VICTIM ALLEGEDLY FOUND IN THE CAR OF SOUTH DAKOTA AG WHO SAID THAT HIT A HUNT
South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg (South Dakota Department of Public Security)
(South Dakota Department of Public Security)
The judge also ordered the Department of Public Security to remove two videos from its website released on Tuesday, which showed investigators interviewing Ravnsborg.
The Republican governor was among the loudest voices calling for Ravnsborg’s resignation. Noem tried to increase pressure on the attorney general to resign on Thursday, promising to release the investigation documents and enlisting a senior Cabinet member to join the chorus calling for his removal from office.
SOUTH DAKOTA AG RAVNSBORG, WHO ALLEGEDLY CROSSES THE MAN WITH A CAR, ESCAPES FELONY CARGES
Speaking at a news conference, Noem said he decided to publicly ask Ravnsborg to resign after spending a day reviewing the investigation, including videos of his interviews with the authorities. She considered the decision to release the documents and video as providing transparency to the investigation.
Ravnsborg, also a Republican, has indicated that he will not resign and insists that he can continue to carry out his duties, despite facing charges of traffic and impeachment in the legislature.
But Craig Price, Noem’s secretary of public security, pushed for Ravnsborg’s impeachment. Joining Noem at the news conference, Price said that “maintaining public trust is critical” for law enforcement officers, referring to his 20-year career as a police officer that culminated in the supervision of the state Highway Patrol.
Price had said the Department of Public Security was within the limits of state law when releasing the documents.
Noem said he spent 10 hours analyzing the details of the accident investigation on Monday, the day before calling for him to resign.
“I had not seen anything before that, but that is one of the reasons why we moved on Tuesday and I presented my personal opinion that he should resign,” she said.
South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg reported hitting a deer with his car, but actually killed a pedestrian whose body was not found until the next day, according to state investigators, Monday, September 14, 2020. ( AP Photo / Dirk Lammers, Archive)
The governor said she has not communicated directly with Ravnsborg since the accident.
Noem also took the extraordinary action of releasing videos of Ravnsborg’s interviews with detectives investigating the accident that occurred when he was driving home after a Republican fundraiser. The videos have already been removed from the Department of Public Security’s website.
In interviews, Ravnsborg seems unsure about how his Ford Taurus swerved to the side of the road, where it hit 55-year-old Joseph Boever. Although he initially told investigators that he did not use his cell phone while driving that night, he admitted that he was checking e-mails and news sites after investigators confronted him with his phone records.
Prosecutors accused him of misdemeanor for using his phone while driving, although his phone records show that the device was blocked about a minute before the accident.
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Meanwhile, lawmakers have prepared to continue the impeachment process next week. Mayor Spencer Gosch proposed to form a special committee to investigate Ravnsborg’s conduct in the fatal accident.
Price, who led the investigation of the accident, said earlier that Ravnsborg was distracted before entering the shoulder of a dark stretch of highway, but did not provide further details. Boever, 55, was walking along the side of the road and showing some kind of light when Ravnsborg’s 2011 Ford Taurus hit him, according to Price.
Ravnsborg released a statement shortly after the accident saying that his vehicle “hit something I believed to be a large animal (probably a deer)”.
Ravnsborg said he called 911 and used his cell phone flashlight to examine a ditch near the area “but was unable to see anything”.
CALL 911 AT SOUTH DAKOTA AG, SOME FATAL CRASH LAUNCHED
“I looked around the vehicle in the dark and saw nothing to indicate what I had achieved,” he said in the statement. “All I could see were pieces of my vehicle standing on the road and around.”
When Sheriff Mike Volek arrived, he also “assessed the damage” at the crime scene and in Ravnsborg’s vehicle, the state AG said.
“At no time did any of us suspect that I was involved in an accident with a person,” continued his statement. Ravnsborg, whose car was too badly damaged to drive, borrowed Volek’s personal vehicle to return home, he said.
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Ravnsborg described how he and his chief of staff were driving to return Volek’s vehicle the morning after the scene, when they stopped at the crash site.
Ravnsborg faces up to 30 days in prison and a fine of up to $ 500 on each charge: careless driving, off-road driving and motor vehicle operation while on the phone.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.