South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg recently got a speeding ticket for going 57 mph in a 35 mph zone. It was his seventh speeding in seven years — and it came just fours days before his trial was set to begin for fatally ramming his car into Joseph Boever on a highway shoulder while driving home from a Republican Party function in September of 2020, The Daily Beast reports.
Ravnsborg, the top law-enforcement officer in the state, called police and said he thought he had hit an animal. Boever’s body was not found until the next day when Ravnsborg returned to the highway.
During an interrogation, investigators told Ravnsborg that he hit Boever so hard and directly that the dead man’s glasses ended up inside his car.
“That means his face came through your windshield,” a North Dakota Bureau of Investigation agent told Ravnsborg. “His face is in your windshield. Think about it.”
Ravnsborg admitted to scrolling through his phone just before the accident and was charged with three misdemeanors: use of an electronic device while driving, illegal lane change, and careless driving. Last week, he cut a deal with prosecutors to avoid trial, getting his careless driving charge dropped while pleading guilty to the other charges which carry a $500 each.
Ravnsborg is facing calls from both Democrats and Republicans to step down. Lawmakers have also threatened possible impeachment proceedings against him.
