PIERRE, SD (AP) – South Dakota’s Republican Attorney General was accused of misdemeanor driving car after hitting and killing a man with his car, officials said on Thursday.
Jason Ravnsborg is also facing misdemeanor charges for operating a motor vehicle using a mobile electronic device and deviating from its lane, announced Emily Sovell, Hyde County State Attorney. Authorities said he was not on the phone at the time of the accident.
Each charge is punishable by up to 30 days in prison and / or a $ 500 fine, said Sovell.
Sovell said the evidence does not support more serious criminal charges, such as vehicular homicide or wrongful death. She noted that nothing showed that Ravnsborg was drunk at the time of the accident. She also said that to prove manslaughter, the state would have to show that Ravnsborg “knowingly and unjustifiably” disregarded a substantial risk.
Ravnsborg said he was confident that he did not commit a crime and that he did not drink before the accident. He provided a blood sample and handed his electronic devices over to investigators. A toxicology report from a sample collected about 15 hours after the accident showed that there was no alcohol in the Ravnsborg system.
Boever’s family questioned Ravnsborg’s account and expressed frustration waiting five months to find out if he would face charges.
Beadle County Attorney Michael Moore, who helped in the case, said the Boever family was informed of the decision in advance.
“They obviously don’t like our decision in this case, but as we all know, victims don’t make that decision,” said Moore. Later, under pressure from a reporter, Moore added: “I don’t feel good about it, but it’s the right decision.”
Ravnsborg, who was elected to his first term in 2018, initially told authorities that he thought he had hit a deer or other large animal while driving to Pierre from a Republican fundraiser in late September 12. He said he did not realize that he had killed a man until he returned to the crash site the next day.
Accident investigators said in November that Ravnsborg was distracted when he moved to the shoulder of the highway where Joseph Boever, 55, was walking. But prosecutors took more months to make a decision on the accusation in the accident, launching an investigation that considered GPS data from cell phones, video images along the Ravnsborg route and DNA evidence.
A Wyoming accident reconstruction specialist and the North Dakota Criminal Investigation Department assisted the South Dakota Highway Patrol in the investigation. Such accidents would normally be investigated by the South Dakota Criminal Investigation Office, which reports to the attorney general’s office. The other agencies took over the investigation to avoid a conflict of interest.
South Dakota law requires pedestrians to walk on the side of the road that faces traffic in the opposite direction when walking near freeways like the one where the accident occurred.
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This story has been corrected to rule out an erroneous mention that Ravnsborg could face up to a year in prison; the prosecutor said that each of the three misdemeanors is punishable by up to 30 days in prison and a fine.