Joe Boever killed by Jason Ravnsborg in car crash - accident or murder?

South Dakota AG struck, killed a pedestrian with car; initially said he thought he hit a deer

Sept 14
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg told authorities he thought he hit a deer on Saturday night when he struck and killed a pedestrian with his vehicle.

Joseph Boever, 55, of Highmore, South Dakota, was killed after being struck by Ravnsborg's Ford Taurus, the South Dakota Highway Patrol said. The state attorney general called authorities after the crash, telling them he thought he had hit a deer, the state Highway Patrol said.

The incident happened on U.S. Highway 14 at 10:30 p.m. local time 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

Ravnsborg, who was elected as the state's Attorney General in 2018, has six speeding infractions between 2014 and 2018 in South Dakota, according to a background check. He pleaded guilty to all of them and paid fines ranging from $19 to $79. He also has received two speeding tickets in Iowa.

Ravnsborg was also cited on a seat belt violation out of Brown County in March 2017 and driving without a proper exhaust and muffler system out of Yankton County in August 2015. He paid a $25 fine and a $54 fine in those cases, respectively.


1601066468171.png

Family speaks out after man killed in crash involving Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg

HIGHMORE — 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 evening prior. Victor said his cousin had told him he went off the road while reaching for his tobacco. But when Nemec arrived, Boever was nowhere to be found.

His house was unlocked with all the lights on. Concerned, Nemec called the Hyde County Sheriff.


welve hours later, he and his brother Nick Nemec were in a Highmore funeral home identifying Boever's body.

Boever, 55, was killed in a crash late Saturday involving South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg.

More:Attorney General releases statement regarding his role in fatal crash

It was announced in a Sunday evening press release from Gov. Kristi Noem that Ravnsborg had been involved in the fatal wreck, though few details were released.


The South Dakota Highway Patrol confirmed that Ravnsborg was involved in the crash that killed Boever Saturday night, according to a news release issued Monday morning. Ravnsborg initially reported the crash to the Hyde County Sheriff's Office that he thought he had hit a deer.

Boever's body was not discovered until Sunday morning, the release states.

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.

Incoming Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg addresses supporters Tuesday, Nov. 6, at the Hilton Garden Inn in Sioux Falls.


Victor said at some point Saturday evening, Boever must have decided not to wait for his help and began walking to his truck.

That’s when he was killed while walking along Highway 14 west of Highmore.

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.

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 attended a GOP dinner at a bar before he reported hitting a deer on his 110-mile drive home when he actually struck and killed a man. Photos posted on the Spink County Republicans' Facebook page show Ravnsborg sitting near the stage at the small Republican fundraiser at Rooster's Bar and Grill in Redfield Saturday night, hours before he hit 55-year-old Boever with his vehicle. Witnesses at the fundraiser have vouched for the Attorney General, saying they didn't see him drinking alcohol and that he did not seem 'impaired in any way shape or form'.

The South Dakota Attorney General who recently was involved in a fatal accident has previously shared photos from behind the wheel as he drove and has a history of speeding and traffic violations.

His Facebook account reveals photos he has taken or stills of dash cam video while driving. He has received at least eight speeding tickets, eight within a four-year period.

Ravnsborg attended a GOP dinner at a bar before he reported hitting a deer on his 110-mile drive home when he actually struck and killed a man. Photos posted on the Spink County Republicans' Facebook page show Ravnsborg sitting near the stage at the small Republican fundraiser at Rooster's Bar and Grill in Redfield Saturday night, hours before he hit 55-year-old Boever with his vehicle. Witnesses at the fundraiser have vouched for the Attorney General, saying they didn't see him drinking alcohol and that he did not seem 'impaired in any way shape or form'.

South Dakota AG who told cops he hit a deer when he actually killed a man previously shared photos from behind the wheel as he drove and has a history of speeding tickets and traffic violations
  • South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg hit and killed Joe Boever while driving near Highmore on Saturday night
  • Ravnsborg first told sheriffs when he called 911 that he believed he hit a deer
  • The Attorney General had been driving back to his home in Pierre after attending a Republican fundraising event 110 miles away
  • New documents reveal Ravnsborg has received eight speeding tickets, six between 2014 and 2018 in South Dakota, and two in Iowa
  • He also has received two violations, including one for not wearing a seat belt and another for driving without a proper exhaust and muffler system
  • Ravnsborg has also posted multiple pictures on Facebook of roads where it is clear he is behind the wheel including from May 2018 and October 2019

 

Hmm. Not sure what to think. Of course notable is right off the bat he states he is the Attorney General. Go figure, big surprise. He did call 911, one has to give him that, however, I don't know... Stating his position and who he is right off, his car so destroyed that he has to take what, the sheriff's car home?? Wouldn't they test anyone else right then no matter what they hit for an accident that caused that much damage? Maybe not, hard to say, perhaps their radar would not be up if the person actually called it in... I mean who would call in if they were intoxicated or anything? Yet weren't there car parts, etc. in the road, no reason to bring in a crew or test him nor anything...?

I find the statement that it was in the middle of the road very odd. I find it very hard to believe the other man was walking down the middle of the road towards oncoming traffic likely with headlights on... No one does that. That statement sounds like butt covering... The damage to the car should bear that out one would think if an honest reconstruction takes place.

I would be interested in his phone records and whether anyone was called or contacted prior or after that call.
.
 
soooooo...he knows it was right in the middle of the road. How does one not know the difference between a person and a deer if they know it was in the middle of the road AND it hit your windshield enough to break it? I get it if it came from the side, but he states he saw it in the middle of the road. Surrrrrre.

Yep. That part bugs me too. You can see one thing but not another, you knew you hit what it was in the middle of the road but did not see what it was? People following the law walk on the left side of the road at oncoming traffic in that same lane coming onwards on their right. Not everyone does it but no one walks down the middle. The only time you would be in the middle is if you are crossing the road. It also still gets me that this area in an article a week or so ago is supposedly like streetlight lit... I find it very hard to believe he saw nothing.

Now a deer may come into you from the side that you did not see, as you say, running and bounce off your car, people do not collide with your car running towards it and into it and bounce off your car.

I truly even wonder if this man was moved or at least I wonder it at times based on some of the details.

.
 
In a Friday court filing, defense attorney Timothy J. Rensch petitioned presiding Sixth Circuit Judge John L. Brown for a court order to release Boever’s records from at least five medical facilities “for exculpatory information concerning his suicidal ideation.”

The effort appears to be premised on the word of Boever’s cousin Barnabas Nemec, who recently penned a letter to Hyde County Deputy State’s Attorney Emily Sovell, herself one of Ravnsborg’s former law school classmates at the University of South Dakota.
Two of Barnabas Nemec’s brothers–also Boever’s cousins–take issue with the suicide theory of the tragic events that September night.

“Barnabas lives in suburban Detroit, Michigan,” Nick Nemec told the Standard. “I don’t know how he would have been able to observe anything to make any judgment call.”

Victor Nemec told the Daily Beast that he gave his dead cousin a ride on the last night of his life after Boever had crashed his own truck into a bale of hay. The soon-to-be dead man wasn’t drunk or drinking that night, Victor Nemec said, and there was no alcohol in his home either.

The Nemecs who do live in-state have long questioned the integrity of the investigation into Boever’s death–as well as Ravsnborg’s various versions of what transpired that fateful night.

Authorities have produced evidence that purports to show the defendant was scrolling his phone at the time of the incident–while reading various right-wing conspiracy theory-themed websites.

Further complicating the attorney general’s narrative is the fact that Boever’s reading glasses were recovered from inside his Ford Taurus–because Boever’s head was stuck inside the windshield.
“His face was in your windshield, Jason,” an interrogator told Ravsnborg during a custodial interview that was released by state authorities before Judge Brown ordered that footage taken out of public view because it might influence the trial. “Think about that.”

The glacial pace of the case not withstanding, other oddities have generated headlines for months in the scandalized prosecution.

Notably, a blood sample wasn’t taken from Ravnsborg by local sheriff’s deputies until some 15 hours after the fatal crash. That sample turned up no alcohol in a toxicology report.

Ravnsborg, after his car was wrecked, drove home that night in the personal vehicle of Hyde County Sheriff Mike Volek.

Ravnsborg’s trial is currently slated for August 26.

 

South Dakota court orders sharing of crash victim's records​

A judge overseeing the criminal trial of South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg has ordered medical providers to turn over their health records for the pedestrian who was struck and killed by Ravnsborg last year.

This week, retired Circuit Court Judge John Brown issued letters to several hospitals and clinics, ordering them to provide records about Joe Boever’s psychiatric state. The order comes after Ravnsborg’s defense alleged in court documents that Boever’s Sept. 12 death may have been a suicide.
 

South Dakota court orders sharing of crash victim's records​

A judge overseeing the criminal trial of South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg has ordered medical providers to turn over their health records for the pedestrian who was struck and killed by Ravnsborg last year.

This week, retired Circuit Court Judge John Brown issued letters to several hospitals and clinics, ordering them to provide records about Joe Boever’s psychiatric state. The order comes after Ravnsborg’s defense alleged in court documents that Boever’s Sept. 12 death may have been a suicide.
a "suicide" while walking on the shoulder of the road and with a flashlight? Oh, come on!
 

South Dakota court orders sharing of crash victim's records​

A judge overseeing the criminal trial of South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg has ordered medical providers to turn over their health records for the pedestrian who was struck and killed by Ravnsborg last year.

This week, retired Circuit Court Judge John Brown issued letters to several hospitals and clinics, ordering them to provide records about Joe Boever’s psychiatric state. The order comes after Ravnsborg’s defense alleged in court documents that Boever’s Sept. 12 death may have been a suicide.

It doesn't change anything about his not reporting it til the next day.
 
In a Friday court filing, defense attorney Timothy J. Rensch petitioned presiding Sixth Circuit Judge John L. Brown for a court order to release Boever’s records from at least five medical facilities “for exculpatory information concerning his suicidal ideation.”

The effort appears to be premised on the word of Boever’s cousin Barnabas Nemec, who recently penned a letter to Hyde County Deputy State’s Attorney Emily Sovell, herself one of Ravnsborg’s former law school classmates at the University of South Dakota.
Two of Barnabas Nemec’s brothers–also Boever’s cousins–take issue with the suicide theory of the tragic events that September night.

“Barnabas lives in suburban Detroit, Michigan,” Nick Nemec told the Standard. “I don’t know how he would have been able to observe anything to make any judgment call.”

Victor Nemec told the Daily Beast that he gave his dead cousin a ride on the last night of his life after Boever had crashed his own truck into a bale of hay. The soon-to-be dead man wasn’t drunk or drinking that night, Victor Nemec said, and there was no alcohol in his home either.

The Nemecs who do live in-state have long questioned the integrity of the investigation into Boever’s death–as well as Ravsnborg’s various versions of what transpired that fateful night.

Authorities have produced evidence that purports to show the defendant was scrolling his phone at the time of the incident–while reading various right-wing conspiracy theory-themed websites.

Further complicating the attorney general’s narrative is the fact that Boever’s reading glasses were recovered from inside his Ford Taurus–because Boever’s head was stuck inside the windshield.
“His face was in your windshield, Jason,” an interrogator told Ravsnborg during a custodial interview that was released by state authorities before Judge Brown ordered that footage taken out of public view because it might influence the trial. “Think about that.”

The glacial pace of the case not withstanding, other oddities have generated headlines for months in the scandalized prosecution.

Notably, a blood sample wasn’t taken from Ravnsborg by local sheriff’s deputies until some 15 hours after the fatal crash. That sample turned up no alcohol in a toxicology report.

Ravnsborg, after his car was wrecked, drove home that night in the personal vehicle of Hyde County Sheriff Mike Volek.

Ravnsborg’s trial is currently slated for August 26.

This is just chilling. I’m glad he’s not gonna get away with us. Even if it was an accident, it was manslaughter.
 
Circuit Judge John Brown had little leeway to order jail time. Instead, he fined the state's top law enforcement official $500 for each count plus court costs of $3,742. Brown also ordered the Republican to "do a significant public service event" in each of the next five years near the date of Joseph Boever's death — granting a request from the Boever family. But he put that on hold pending a final ruling after Ravnsborg's attorney objected that it was not allowed by statute.
 
Circuit Judge John Brown had little leeway to order jail time. Instead, he fined the state's top law enforcement official $500 for each count plus court costs of $3,742. Brown also ordered the Republican to "do a significant public service event" in each of the next five years near the date of Joseph Boever's death — granting a request from the Boever family. But he put that on hold pending a final ruling after Ravnsborg's attorney objected that it was not allowed by statute.
Seriously?! 🤬
 
Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg should've been charged with manslaughter instead of misdemeanors for his role in a vehicle crash that killed someone, according to South Dakota's top public official.

Department of Public Safety Secretary Craig Price in a letter sent to leadership in the South Dakota House of Representatives said the first-term attorney general should not have avoided more serious charges after he struck and killed a Hyde County man last year.
 

North Dakota BCI agents believe Ravnsborg saw Boever the night of the crash​

<snip>
North Dakota BCI Special Agent Joe Arenz, who filed the BCI’s initial report and more than 30 of the 65 reports included in the investigative file, said statements Ravnsborg made to him during interviews made him believe that he hit a person and not a deer.


Arnie Rummel, a supervisor and special agent with the N.D. BCI, said there were many occasions throughout interviews with Ravnsborg where the attorney general was “not being straight forward.”


“He walked by a flashlight that’s on. There’s a body that’s laying within two feet of the roadway and obviously deceased and he’s all white, there isn’t any blood being pumped in him and the fact white is reflective, I believe that he’d have to see him,” Rummel said. <snip>
Arenz said they found Boever’s body in the grass and noticed his left leg was bent up over his head and his right leg had been severed.<snip>

Arenz said the ND BCI reports were sent to the Hyde County State’s Attorney. He also said they’ve never sprayed Blue Star, which helps find blood, in such a large area and he said that was not normal. The part they sprayed Blue Star ended up being 30 feet from where crash reconstruction point of impact was determined to be.<snip>
🤬🐂:poop: (IMO)
 

North Dakota BCI agents believe Ravnsborg saw Boever the night of the crash​

<snip>
North Dakota BCI Special Agent Joe Arenz, who filed the BCI’s initial report and more than 30 of the 65 reports included in the investigative file, said statements Ravnsborg made to him during interviews made him believe that he hit a person and not a deer.


Arnie Rummel, a supervisor and special agent with the N.D. BCI, said there were many occasions throughout interviews with Ravnsborg where the attorney general was “not being straight forward.”


“He walked by a flashlight that’s on. There’s a body that’s laying within two feet of the roadway and obviously deceased and he’s all white, there isn’t any blood being pumped in him and the fact white is reflective, I believe that he’d have to see him,” Rummel said. <snip>
Arenz said they found Boever’s body in the grass and noticed his left leg was bent up over his head and his right leg had been severed.<snip>

Arenz said the ND BCI reports were sent to the Hyde County State’s Attorney. He also said they’ve never sprayed Blue Star, which helps find blood, in such a large area and he said that was not normal. The part they sprayed Blue Star ended up being 30 feet from where crash reconstruction point of impact was determined to be.<snip>
🤬🐂:poop: (IMO)
Yeah, I'd say it is another case of who you are making a difference, they don't get the same justice others do. An average person would be facing serious charges and probably several.

I don't know that they had enough to charge but if they didn't, it's because he was assisted in the fact evidence was not secured in the first place, etc. It's not identical but I'm waiting to see what the Kansas City coach's son gets for a sentence as well in that drunken driving/injury case.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
3,044
Messages
247,560
Members
992
Latest member
lifeofthespider
Back
Top Bottom