We agree, Ravnsborg should resign

We agree with District 30 Rep. Tim Goodwin and others who are saying South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg should resign. Sometime late Saturday night Sept. 12 last year, Ravnsborg was returning from a political event in Redfield and on his way home to Pierre when he drifted off the road and struck something he thought must have been a deer. He had just passed through Highmore in Hyde County on U.S Highway 14.
Ravnsborg said he got out of his car and looked for the deer he thought he hit and then contacted the Hyde County sheriff and told him what he thought had happened. He borrowed the sheriff's car because his 2011 Ford Taurus was inoperable due to extensive front end damage. A dead deer was not found that night in the dark.
The next morning the two returned to the scene of the accident and found the body of 55-year-old Joseph Boever of Highmore who reportedly was walking on the shoulder of the road when he was struck. After an investigation that took a long five months, Ravnsborg was finally charged by the Hyde County States Attorney’s Office with operating a vehicle while using a mobile or electronic device, a lane driving violation and careless driving. These were three fairly lenient charges considering the circumstances. Someone died. Everyone is entitled to their day in court, but we believe the charges against Ravnsborg are serious enough to ask for his resignation. A man was struck by his car that fateful night and was killed. This is not a small thing and will end Ravnsborg’s political aspirations.
We always believed the deer story was somewhat suspect and that the Attorney General may have known what he had hit and tried to come up with a cover story. Two independent, reconstruction accident investigators hired by the state also expressed their doubts as to the deer story. We hit a deer broadside while driving a Suburban one evening and you can't help but see what is right in front of you when that happens. Granted, we were not distracted, but this is what makes Ravnsborg’s charges appear to be lenient.
He reportedly did not drink alcohol at the Redfield event, so he should have been alert and paying attention, not drifting off the road, apparently distracted. That alone should have brought a charge of involuntary vehicular manslaughter. An innocent man walking on the shoulder of the road to the pickup he had earlier abandoned suddenly lost his life because of Ravnsborg’s inattention to driving. We hope our Attorney General resigns because there will always be a cloud of doubt hanging over him. Let the justice system sort this out, but we believe the charges are much less severe than they could have been. Each charge carries a 30-day jail sentence and a $500 fine.
Whatever the outcome in court, the life of Joe Boever is lost forever. That, in itself, would seem to be a heavy burden to bear.

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