(FreedomBeacon.com)- The attorney general in South Dakota has been removed from his position a following his conviction in a 2020 accident in which he killed a pedestrian while he was driving.
Jason Ravnsborg was removed from his position on Tuesday by state senators for his role in the September 2020 accident, in which he killed Joe Boever, who was walking along the shoulder of a highway.
Ravnsborg gave a statement following the incident in which he said he wasn’t immediately sure that he hit a person and not a deer. The former attorney general maintained that he didn’t know what he ultimately hit with his car until police discovered Boever’s body the morning after the crash.
But, police investigations revealed that Boever’s face ended up going through the windshield of the car, and the pedestrian’s classes were found inside of the car Ravnsborg was driving.
Ravnsborg also made odd comments to investigations that month, saying:
“Again, why would a man be walking down the road? I believe I’m on the road and — wham. My life changes.”
His statement, though, was proven to be a lie. Police reconstructed the crash scene and found that all four tires of Ravnsborg’s car were in the shoulder of the highway when he hit Boever.
Ravnsborg continued to say he never saw the pedestrian’s body on that night, even though a flashlight Boever was carrying was still lit up when investigators found it.
The former attorney general always denied being distracted by his phone. Investigators, though, showed Ravnsborg that they had data that proved his was looking at blog posts and news articles roughly one minute before he hit the pedestrian.
During the investigation, one interrogator said:
“So, when we look at that, our concern is everything that we’re seeing here is appearing that you were on your phone reading political stuff at the time.”
Just two days following the crash, the former attorney general met with the state’s Division of Criminal Investigation as well as an expert in digital forensics regarding what information is able to recovered from a person’s cellphone.
Brent Gromer, who was that expert but is now retired from the DCI, has said that he was uncomfortable at the meeting. He said:
“We were not supposed to be involved. We conflicted out of this investigation and contacted North Dakota to do the investigation. We were not supposed to have anything to do with it.”
Ravnsborg was impeached for his role in the accident, and then ultimately removed from office by the state Senate. He’ll also now be barred from holding any political office in the future in South Dakota.
For now, Governor Kristi Noem has the opportunity to appoint Ravnsborg’s replacement. That person will serve out the remainder of the term, which ends in January.
The state’s Republican Party is holding a convention over the weekend, and it will choose one nominee for the election that will be held in November.
