What's up with the investigation of the killing of Joseph Boever? Readers may remember that he's the man who was walking with a flashlight on the shoulder of a country road, only to be hit and killed by a car driven by a distracted South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg.
In Saturday's Rapid City Journal, Kevin Woster writes in Still waiting:
There were nights, during the first few weeks after his cousin’s death, when Nick Nemec just couldn’t sleep.
Sometimes he’d reach out to others by phone, just to talk. He called me on one of those nights as he stood on the wide porch of his two-story farm home west of Holabird, admiring the clear skies and shining stars above.
The familiar, peaceful scene stood in bizarre contrast to the events of another night along Highway 14 a few miles from the Nemec farmhouse. You might know the story: Just west of Highmore, shortly before 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 12, a Ford Taurus driven by South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg struck and killed 55-year-old Joe Boever of Highmore as he walked along the shoulder of the road. . . .
We know quite a bit about that, but we still don’t know the whole story. The investigation continues almost 11 weeks after Joe Boever died. Authorities have concluded that Joe Boever was walking on the shoulder and carrying a light when he was struck by Ravnsborg’s vehicle, and that Ravnsborg was distracted at the time of the crash. They haven’t reported the reason for the distraction.
It’s unclear whether Ravsnsborg will face criminal charges. And there are questions about Ravnsnborg’s call to a 911 dispatcher, in which he said he hit something “in the middle of the road.” At first he told the dispatcher that he didn’t know what he hit, but then said “it could be” when the dispatcher asked if it was “a deer or something.”
Then there’s the unanswered question of why Boever’s body was not discovered. Rather, Boever was left at the scene throughout the night. Ravnsborg said he looked around with his cell-phone flashlight but didn’t see anything. Hyde County Sheriff Mike Volek came to the scene in response to the 911 call but didn’t find Boever’s body, either. Volek then loaned Ravnsborg his private car to drive home to Pierre.
So Joe Boever was left lying in the ditch, where Ravnsborg says he discovered the body the next morning when he came back and stopped at the scene. . . ,
[Boever's cousin Nick Nemec] tried to imagine what Ravnsborg could have seen that night.
“Certainly with lights on bright and, I’d contend, with them on dim, a driver would be able to see a human being walking along the shoulder of the road,” Nick says. “Somebody walking on that shoulder would have been visible, especially with a light.
“My cousin was doing everything he was supposed to do as a pedestrian in that situation,” he says. “He was walking on the shoulder the way he should have been. And he had a light.” . . . .
Read the entire column in the Rapid City Journal. The Rapid City Journal also reported on November 25, State denies public records request for additional 911 calls related to Ravnsborg's fatal crash. From the article:
. . . The Journal requested all 911 or dispatch calls from Sept. 12 and Sept. 13 that were about the crash and made by or to Jason Ravnsborg, Joe Boever, DPS, the Highway Patrol and the Hyde County Sheriff's Office.
Public records laws say 911 calls are a public record "if the agency or a court determines that the public interest in disclosure outweighs the interest in nondisclosure."
The Journal argued that any additional 911 calls are in the public interest because the public needs to know whether the crash involving Ravnsborg was handled like other fatal crashes. . . .
And here's a November 27 letter-to-the-editors of the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. Jerry Wilson of Vermillion writes:
Remember Joseph Boever? Say his name! Twelve weeks have passed since he was struck and killed by Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg on September 12. Gov. Noem promised a “transparent” investigation. On October 13, Noem and Sec. of Public Safety Craig Price held a press conference to tell us — well, not much. Now another seven weeks have passed, and not another word.
We do have the transcript of Ravnsborg’s 911 call. When asked what he hit, he says “I have no idea.” Two days later, his story was that he thought he’d hit a deer. Sec. Price says there was no alcohol in Ravnsborg’s blood when it was drawn — more than 14 hours later. Boever’s body was sent out of state for an autopsy, but no detailed report has been released. We were told at the time that investigators have Ravnsborg’s two cell phones, but how long does it take an expert to determine whether the AG was reading or texting? And no report from the car’s computer or skid marks analysis about Ravnsborg’s speed.
Like most South Dakotans who sometimes drive country roads at night, I have seen hundreds of deer ahead, and I always slow down, just in case. But never have I mistaken a man for a deer, and never have I seen a deer carrying a flashlight. The AG’s story doesn’t hold up. If you hit and kill a human being beside an open road, it is hard to escape a conclusion involving negligence.
Mr. Boever won’t be telling his version of what happened the night of September 12, so these questions remain: Will the attorney general ever face true scrutiny and consequences like an ordinary citizen? Will we ever learn the results of a genuine investigation, or has the entire tragedy been swept under the rug? Will it all blow over until nobody but his family remembers Joseph Boever’s name?
Right now, a rough Google search of the Attorney General's name reveals headlines like Can legal marijuana get a fair shake in court with an anti-pot attorney general? in the Argus Leader (November 24).
And News Center 1's South Dakota, Sanford Health agree on Medicaid settlement (November 25).
And the column and the letter. Remember Joseph Boever? Say his name.
Related posts:
- UPDATED: Joe Boever's tragic death on Hwy 14: news digest about Ravnsborg's fatal accident
- South Dakota News Watch: Crash experts question Ravnsborg’s car-deer explanation
- SD News Watch: State's criminal & civil traffic laws favor drivers over pedestrians in collisions
- Update: SD Attorney General Ravnsborg was distracted when he hit, killed flashlight-carrying Joe Boever
Photo: Joseph Boever (left), killed when hit by the car driven by South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg (right). Via the Rapid City Journal.
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