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A fatal vehicle-pedestrian accident is dominating South Dakota news this morning, shifting focus away from South Dakota as hot spot for COVID-19 cases.
It's not a first first accidents and COVID-19 have captured the state's news cycle.
Just a month ago, Morgan Matzen reported in the Rapid City Journal article, Gov. Noem urges state residents to 'put our positive pants on' during pandemic:
Gov. Kristi Noem said in a press release Friday that more South Dakotans have died from accidents than from COVID-19 in the past five months, while asking people to “put our positive pants on” and have an “optimistic outlook” during the pandemic that has killed 148 state residents.
“There is a risk associated with everything that we do in life,” Noem said. “We mitigate risks by taking proper precautions when we get in our cars, when we operate farm equipment, and when we make choices about what we eat and how much we exercise. The same should be true about life as we get back to normal.”
On Saturday night, Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg hit and killed a pedestrian on Highway 14 near Highmore, after attending a Republican Party fundraiser in Spink County. The evolving story is inconclusive at this point, as many details remain unaccounted for, as Forum News Service reporter Jeremy Fugleberg tweeted within the hour of my starting to write this post:
Lots of big questions unanswered here:
— jayfug (@jayfug) September 14, 2020
- Was alcohol a factor?
- Was speed a factor?
- When did Ravnsborg first talk to law enforcement and report it as a deer hit?
(And also who doesn't stop after hitting a deer and check out the damage, etc?)
Fugleberg earlier reported in the Mitchell Republic story, SD Attorney General Ravnsborg thought he hit deer when he struck, killed Highmore man:
Joe Boever was the victim of a fatal crash with Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, cousin Nick Nemec confirmed, a fact later confirmed by law enforcement. Nemec helped identify Boever's body the day after the crash on U.S. Highway 14 just west of Highmore. Ravnsborg told law enforcement he thought he hit a deer.
South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg struck and killed Highmore, S.D., resident Joe Boever, 55, while driving on U.S. Highway 14 near Highmore the evening of Sept. 12, a family member and authorities have confirmed.
Ravnsborg, 44, was driving a 2011 Ford Taurus when he struck Boever at about 10:30 p.m. The attorney general, who wasn't injured in the collision, told the Hyde County Sheriff's Office he had hit a deer, according to a news release from the state Department of Public Safety on Monday.
Boever's body wasn't discovered until Sunday morning, Sept. 13, DPS said.
The Rapid City Journal reported Sunday that Ravnsborg was on his way back to Pierre from a GOP Lincoln Day dinner at a bar and grill in Redfield, S.D. [Spink County]. Highmore is about 70 miles from Redfield, and about half way to Pierre.
In a hastily called news conference in Sioux Falls on Sunday at about 5:30 p.m., Gov. Kristi Noem announced Ravnsborg was involved in a fatal crash, but wouldn't release any additional information about what happened or who else was involved.
Nick Nemec, Boever's cousin and a former Democratic state legislator, said he went with his brother Victor to identify the body at 8 p.m. Sunday, nearly 20 hours after the collision.
Nemec said he's not sure why it took authorities so long to get family members in to identify Boever's body. Victor Nemec notified authorities late Sunday morning that Boever was missing and his pickup truck was the one in the ditch, amid the ongoing crash investigation on Highway 14.
"We've got questions why it took so long to contact us," Nemec said. "Was our cousin laying dead on the highway for nearly a day while they were investigating? I don't know."
Ravnsborg issued a statement shortly after Noem's announcement, stating he was "shocked and filled with sorrow" following the crash and was fully cooperating with the investigation. He also offered his "deepest sympathy and condolences to the family."
The timing and contents of Ravnsborg's statement "irritated the hell" out of Nemec, he sai
"He offered his condolences to the family of the victim before they even knew who the victim was," he said. "I saw that statement sometime Sunday afternoon, at kind of the same time we were coming to the realization that the victim was our cousin, and he already offered a statement of condolences to the family, and he didn't even know who the family was, because we hadn't identified the body yet."
Nemec said Boever had damaged the front of his white Ford pickup when he struck a hay bale along Highway 14 earlier on Saturday. Boever was probably walking back to the pickup from his home in Highmore when he was struck by Ravnsborg on Saturday night, Nemec said.
"All I can think of, was Joe decided to walk back out to his pickup and straighten the bumper himself," he said.
Nemec's confirmation was first reported by South Dakota political news site South Dakota Standard, via its Twitter page.
Several new stories in Monday's Falls Argus Leader. There's Joe Sneve's Family speaks out after man killed in crash involving Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg:
Victor Nemec knew something was wrong when he went to pick up his cousin Joe Boever Sunday morning at his home in Highmore.
The two had planned to go fix Boever's truck, which had been damaged when Boever hit a hay bale in the ditch the night prior. Victor said his cousin had told him he went off the road while reaching for his tobacco. But when Nemec arrived, Boever's house was unlocked with all the lights on.
His cousin was nowhere to be found. Concerned, Nemec called the Hyde County Sheriff.
Twelve hours later, he and his brother Nick Nemec were in a Highmore funeral home identifying Boever's body.
Boever, 55, was killed in an accident late Saturday involving South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg.
More:Noem: Attorney General involved in fatal crash Saturday night
Few details of the crash have been released, but Gov. Kristi Noem Sunday evening said during a news conference in Sioux Falls that Ravnsborg had been involved in a fatal wreck. It's unclear if charges against the attorney general are coming or if anyone else was involved in the incident. The investigation is ongoing and being led by the Highway Patrol.
But in Victor Nemec's eyes, it's a simpler story.
“The attorney general hit my cousin as he was walking down the side of the road and killed him,” he said.
Victor said he and his cousin planned to fix Boever’s white Ford pickup Sunday morning, but at some point in the evening, Boever decided not to wait and began walking to his truck.
That’s when he was killed while walking along Highway 14 west of Highmore. Nick Nemec, Victor's brother, is a former Democratic state legislator and party delegate who ran unsuccessfully for the Public Utilities Commission in 2012.
Tony Mangan, spokesperson for the Highway Patrol, said at the direction of the governor, the Highway Patrol is leading the investigation. The attorney general’s office said investigators from North Dakota are also in South Dakota and assisting in the crash investigation due to the conflict created by Ravnsborg’s role overseeing the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation . . .
There's also Highway Patrol: Ravnsborg told authorities he thought he hit a deer:
South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg told authorities he thought he hit a deer on Saturday night when he struck and killed a pedestrian.
Joseph Boever, 55, of Highmore, was killed after being struck by Ravnsborg's Ford Taurus, the South Dakota Highway Patrol said. The incident happened on U.S. Highway 14 west of Highmore at 10:30 p.m. Saturday.
Boever's body was discovered Sunday morning, according to the South Dakota Highway Patrol release.
The news release doesn't say how long it took Ravnsborg to report the crash. . . .
Documents:South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg has history of speeding
Tim Bormann, chief of staff in the attorney general’s office, told the Argus Leader via email Monday that Ravnsborg was traveling alone at the time of the crash. He was uninjured.
Ravnsborg “placed the call to 911 right after the accident, my understanding is that he called from the location of his vehicle,” Bormann wrote. . . .
That article South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg has history of speeding, tells readers:
South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, who was involved in a fatal crash this weekend, has a history of speeding and other traffic violations, according to a background check.
Ravnsborg, 44, was involved in a fatal crash in Hyde County on Saturday, Gov. Kristi Noem announced Sunday evening.
The South Dakota Highway Patrol announced Monday morning that Ravnsborg told the Hyde County Sheriff’s Office that he had been involved in a car-deer crash.
The crash occurred around 10:30 p.m. Saturday, according to the highway patrol's news release. The victim, Joe Boever, was found Sunday morning. It was not made clear when Ravnsborg called authorities.
The release did not say whether speed was a factor or if charges are pending.
Dakota News Now, an ABC/NBC affiliate, reports in Authorities ID victim in fatal crash involving South Dakota Attorney General:
State officials have identified the man killed in an accident involving South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg.
Fifty-five-year-old Joseph Boever of Highmore died in Saturday night’s crash, according to Department of Public Safety spokesperson Tony Mangan.
Mangan said Ravnsborg was driving a 2011 Ford Taurus westbound on U.S. Highway 14 around 10:30 p.m. when he struck Boever. Ravnsborg called the Hyde County Sheriff’s Office and said he believed he had been involved in a car-deer crash.
Boever’s body was not found until Sunday morning.
In an interview with Dakota News Now, Boever’s cousin, Nick Nemec, provided other details about the crash. Nemec said Boever had crashed his pickup into a hay bale prior to Saturday night’s accident. After the crash, Nemec gave Boever a ride back to his home in Highmore, about a mile-and-a-half away. Nemec said he and Boever made plans to fix the pickup on Sunday morning. But Saturday night, Boever decided to go back to the truck. Nemec did not know why Boever returned to the vehicle Saturday night. . . .
Photos from the scene are included in the coverage, including the shot of Boever's pickup at the top of this post.
Keloland's Angela Kennecke reports in Family identifies victim in fatal crash involving S.D. AG, questions why it took so long to identify body :
KELOLAND News has confirmed the name of the victim in the fatal car -pedestrian crash involving South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg on Saturday night.
His family says 56-year-old Joe Boever of Highmore was killed in the crash.
Former South Dakota legislator Nick Nemec and his brother, Victor, were asked to identify the body of their cousin 22 hours after the crash.
Nick Nemec tells KELOLAND News that Boever ran his pickup into the ditch one mile west of Junction 14 and 47 at Highmore, hitting a bale of hay early Saturday evening. Boever called Victor, who gave Boever a ride back to the victim’s home at about 8:30 p.m., telling Boever they would go to try to straighten out the bumper and get the pickup out Sunday morning.
The next morning, Victor drove by where the Ravnsborg crash happened, which was about a fourth of a mile west of where Boever’s pickup was in the ditch.
Victor alerted the Hyde County Sheriff that his cousin was missing. Finally 22 hours after the crash involving Ravnsborg occurred, Victor and Nick were asked to identify Boever’s body.
The Nemecs don’t know why Boever had apparently tried to return to his pickup Saturday night.
Victor tells KELOLAND News that he questions whether or not a 911 call was made because no sirens of emergency vehicles were heard leaving Highmore Saturday night.
The Nemecs say the scene was teaming with law enforcement and emergency vehicles for hours on Sunday.
“My worst fear is that they’re trying to get ducks in a row to absolve the attorney general of any wrongdoing,” Nick Nemec said.
Governor Kristi Noem announced Ravnsborg, 44, involvment in a deadly crash during a Sunday evening news conference.
Read the rest at the link.
UPDATE #1 9/14 near 10:00 p.m.
Keloland's Dan Santella reports in Family members respond to Boever’s death:
. . .Joe Boever’s cousin Victor Nemec says Boever drove into a ditch on that same stretch of road and hit a bale of hay early Saturday night. Boever called Victor, who gave him a ride back home.
“The next morning, I called him a couple of times, didn’t get any answer on his cell phone, so I decided to drive into town and stop at his house,” Victor Nemec said.
He couldn’t find Boever, and reported him as missing. He eventually received a call to identify a body.
“There was still highway patrolmen parked by my cousin’s pickup, and we asked them if we could come and get the pickup the following day, and they said no, it was going to be taken into Pierre for the investigation, and we informed the Highway Patrol then that the pickup really didn’t have anything to do with the accident, and they just acted kind of dead faced and said they had to take it into Pierre,” Victor Nemec said.
Boever’s cousin Nick Nemec also identified the body.
“By the time we identified the body it was 22 hours after the accident, 10 hours after my brother had first given them heads up that the pickup a half mile past the accident site was my cousin’s and that we can’t find him anyplace, and it just seems like the whole process was just put on the back burner, and they could have got Victor up there a heck of a lot sooner to take a statement or identify a body or something,” Nick Nemec said.
Boever’s wife also has concerns.
“How can you not see someone walking down the road, and for no sirens to go off around here is highly unusual, because anytime there’s an accident or anything (there are sirens),” Joe Boever’s wife Jennifer Boever said.
“Why did my husband lie in a ditch for 22 hours. why were no alarms sounded off over here when the accident happened. I mean we have no answers yet. And right now I’m just raw and numb, I just lost the man of my life,” Jennifer Boever said.
Keloland also reports Ravnsborg: 6 speeding tickets in South Dakota, 2 in Iowa.
At the Rapid City Journal, Arielle Zionts reports in DPS not sharing key info about Attorney General crash, investigation:
The Department of Public Safety is not disclosing some key details about the investigation into the attorney general who fatally hit a man while driving after attending a Republican Party event at a restaurant in eastern South Dakota.
Jason Ravnsborg, 44, reported hitting a deer Saturday night near Highmore but actually struck a pedestrian whose body wasn’t discovered until the next morning, DPS said in a Monday morning news release.
The pedestrian was later identified as Joe Boever, a 55-year-old man from Highmore.
The Highway Patrol, which is part of DPS, is leading the investigation but receiving assistance from the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
The DPS spokesman, however, is not disclosing which agency is handling what parts of the investigation, including whether the state's top law enforcement official will be interviewed by fellow South Dakota public safety officials or ones from North Dakota.
"How duties are shared are internal decisions," Tony Mangan said.
Mangan also said he couldn't share the following information because it's part of an ongoing investigation:
- When and how Ravnsborg contacted the Hyde County Sheriff's Office to report hitting the deer;
- Whether Ravnsborg got out of the car after the crash to look for the deer and any damage to his car;
- If local law enforcement arrived to look for the deer on Saturday night;
- Whether Ravnsborg was driving a personal or state-owned vehicle;
- If Ravnsborg made it home to Pierre on Saturday night or had to leave his car somewhere and get a ride;
- Where and when on Sunday morning the victim was found, and by whom;
- Whether law enforcement found any parts of Ravnsborg's car on the road;
- If Ravnsborg has already been tested for drugs and alcohol, and if so when.
Mangan said he wouldn't be able to disclose this type of information at this stage of any investigation concerning a fatal crash.
Ravnsborg was driving westbound on the highway in a 2011 Ford Taurus, according to the DPS news release on Monday. He called the Hyde County Sheriff's Office to say he hit a deer but law enforcement realized he hit a person when Boever's body was discovered the next morning.
“Most people when they hit a deer they stop and they call law enforcement,” Mangan said. “The majority of people” get out of their car if they suspect their car was damaged, he added.
Mangan said all aspects of the crash are under investigation, including whether it could be a criminal hit-and-run if Ravnsborg actually knew he hit a person. . . .
Nick and Victor Nemec, who are brothers, said their cousin Boever was hit while walking to his disabled vehicle, which he'd crashed into a ditch and hay bale Saturday morning.
"My cousin got run over by the attorney general,” said Nick, a former state lawmaker.
“A deer doesn’t look like a human,” Victor added.
Nick, 62, and Victor, 58, said they were called to identify Boever’s body around 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
The brothers, farmers who live near Holabird, say they’re upset about how long it took for officials to ask them to identify the body.
Victor is afraid officials won’t share the truth about the crash.
“I believe the state is going to try to cover this up as much as they can. I don’t trust this state government,” he said. “This state is known for covering up wrongdoing of elected officials all the time.”
Read the entire article at the Rapid City Journal.
At the Associated Press, Stephen Groves reports in South Dakota agency: AG reported hitting deer, but hit man:
South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg reported hitting a deer with his car on Saturday night but actually killed a pedestrian whose body was not found until the next day, state investigators said Monday. . . .
Victor Nemec, the last known person to see Boever, said that besides answering a few brief questions when he identified the body, investigators have not questioned him about what happened.
“A human doesn’t look like a deer,” he said. “The whole thing stinks to me.”
When Boever’s cousins on Sunday could not find him at his home and saw an accident being investigated near where Boever had left his truck, they grew fearful that he was involved. Victor Nemec said he contacted the sheriff around 10 a.m. and was told to wait. As the hours ticked on, they grew more suspicious and called 911 and the Highway Patrol after 5 p.m. They were allowed to identify his body after 8 p.m. on 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,” Nick Nemec said.
Ravnsborg had been at a fundraising dinner hosted by the Spink County Republicans at Rooster’s Bar & Grill. The attorney general is known to be a frequent attendee of the fundraisers known as Lincoln Day Dinners, held by county GOP groups across the state. . . .
The accident prompted some to recall a 2003 incident in which Bill Janklow, a former four-term governor who was a congressman at the time, ran a stop sign at a rural intersection and killed a motorcyclist. Janklow was convicted of manslaughter, prompting his resignation. . . .
[END UPDATE #1]
UPDATE #2, 9/14, 10:23 p.m.
The New York Times' Marie Fazio reports in South Dakota Investigates Fatal Crash Involving Attorney General:
South Dakota’s attorney general, Jason Ravnsborg, was driving home alone from a Republican Party dinner on Saturday night when his car hit something, possibly a deer, he told the authorities. By the next day, the news had taken a grim turn: A man had been found dead near the highway. And the state’s top law enforcement officer was under investigation.
The dead man was officially identified Monday as Joe Boever, 55, of Highmore, S.D. He had apparently been walking along the highway to his disabled truck. . . .
The department said in a statement on Monday that Mr. Ravnsborg, who lives in Pierre, told the Hyde County Sheriff’s Office that he had “been involved in a car-deer crash” in his 2011 Ford Taurus. The statement did not say if Mr. Ravnsborg had pulled over to look for the deer or to check his vehicle for damage. That is still under investigation, said Tony Mangan, a department spokesman. . . .
The dead man’s cousin, Nick Nemec, said in an interview with The New York Times on Monday that his brother, Victor, had planned to meet Mr. Boever on Sunday morning to help him tow his pickup truck out of a ditch on Highway 14, a two-lane highway with wide shoulders. The day before, Mr. Boever’s truck had run into the ditch, hit a pile of hay, badly bending its bumper, he said, elaborating on an account given to The Argus Leader of Sioux Falls, S.D.
On the way to pick up his cousin on Sunday morning, Victor Nemec passed blood on the highway, a police investigation and Mr. Boever’s pickup, which was still in position about half a mile down the road. When there was no answer at Mr. Boever’s home, they feared the worst, Nick Nemec said.
Mr. Boever worked stints as a nurse’s aide and at a grocery store, his cousin said, but was most recently employed helping Victor Nemec haul hay on his cattle farm. The brothers identified their cousin’s body on Sunday, but were not sure why he was out on the road. Mr. Nemec speculated that he may have decided to return to the pickup to get something or to try to fix the bent bumper himself.
He also said that deer accidents were common in the area. “I’ve hit a number of deers in my vehicle, it’s just something that happens around here,” he said. “You always know the second before you hit a deer you’re going to hit a deer. And even if you do hit one, you pull over, stop and check for damages and report it.” . . .
[END UPDATE #2]
UPDATE #3 9/15 9:08 a.m.
In 'I didn't see what I hit': Attorney General releases statement regarding his role in fatal crash, Makenzie Huber reports in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader:
South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg in a statement released late Monday night said he thought he hit a deer when he struck and killed a man on Saturday night and that he discovered the body when he returned to the scene the next day.
Ravnsborg struck and killed Joe Boever, 55, on the side of Highway 14 around 10:30 p.m. Saturday west of Highmore.
Ravnsborg said he released the two-page statement to dispel the "many rumors and stories being told which do not represent a full and factual account of what happened."
Ravnsborg said that he drove home from the Spink County Lincoln Day Dinner in Redfield around 9:15 p.m. Saturday. He did not drink any alcohol before, during or after the event, and that on his way back to Pierre he hit what he believed to be a deer.
"I didn't see what I hit and stopped my vehicle immediately to investigate," the release states. Ravnsborg was driving alone and was uninjured.
After [Ravnsborg called 911]. the Hyde County Sheriff arrived on scene to assess the damage to Ravnsborg's vehicle and look for the suspected deer in the area. Neither the sheriff nor Ravnsborg saw Boever's body in the ditch, even though Ravnsborg said he used his cell phone flashlight to search the area, Ravnsborg said.
"At no time did either of us suspect that I had been involved in an accident with a person," he said.
Ravnsborg borrowed the sheriff's personal vehicle to drive back to Pierre, he said. He then returned to the scene of the crash the following morning on his way to return the sheriff's vehicle. He and his chief of staff stopped to look for the injured animal again, finding Boever's body in the grass. . . .
At this point, we're finding it difficult to suspend disbelief. Why would the Sheriff leave shining light on the ditches to Ravnsborg's cell phone flashlight? Doesn't sound like any law enforcement officer we know.
[END UPDATE #3]
We're very curious about the gaps in these stories and because of them, we can understand the family's concern. We'll add stories as more is revealed, but close for now with this tweet from Jeremy Fugleberg:
Yeah, you can't cover South Dakota news and hear of this Ravnsborg crash without flashing back to Janklow in 2003. He was later sentenced to 100 days in jail for manslaughter, and settled with Randy Scott family for $1 million in wrongful death suit. https://t.co/a65ztSlb05
— jayfug (@jayfug) September 14, 2020
Photo: Joseph Boever's pickup in the ditch outside of Highmore. Boever's family says he had crashed it earlier Saturday, and was apparently walking back to the vehicle when he was struck.(Dakota News Now). According to Fugelberg, the truck has been impounded as part of the investigation.
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