South Dakota’s Attorney General will not resign after avoiding jail for controversial crash

State’s top law enforcement officer faced calls to quit from police groups and governor

South Dakota’s Attorney General says he will not resign after he avoided prison for a controversial crash in which he hit and killed a man walking along a country road.

Jason Ravnsborg was fined after pleading no contest on traffic charges, despite complaints from the family of 55-year-old vicim Joseph Boever.

Mr Ravnsborg, the state’s top law enforcement officer, initially told investigators that he thought he had hit a deer or another large animal as he drove home from a Republican fundraiser last September.

The crash was so violent that investigators later found the victim’s glasses inside Mr Ravnsborg’s vehicle.

Circuit Judge John Brown fined Mr Ravnsborg $500 for each of the two misdemeanour counts and ordered him to pay court costs of $3,742.

The judge also ordered him to carry out “a significant public service event” near the date of the victim’s death for the next five years, as demanded by his family.

Lawyers for Mr Ravnsborg opposed that and the judge will now consider their objections before ruling.

“First and foremost, I am very sorry Joe Boever lost his life in this accident,” Mr Ravnsborg said in a statement after the hearing, which he did not attend.

“I am sorry to the entire family for the loss of their loved one. They have had to deal with the pain, anger, and sadness of this accident.”

And he added: “I do not know all the Lord has in store for me, but I trust in Him.

“As I continue my service as your attorney general, I’ll keep fighting for you, just as I have since the day I took office. May God bless each of you, and may God continue to bless South Dakota.”

Mr Ravnsborg told police that after the crash he searched the area with a flashlight, and said he did not realise he had killed a man until he returned the next day to the scene of the accident near Highmore, South Dakota.

Crash investigators announced in November that Mr Ravnsborg had been distracted when he veered onto the hard shoulder of the road near where Mr Boever had been walking.

During his police interview, Mr Ravnsborg said he was not sure how he had swerved onto the hard shoulder, but detectives in the case told him they had found bone scrapings on the road’s rumble strips.

“I never saw him. I never saw him,” he told police.

During questioning, detectives told the Attorney General they believed he had been reading something on his phone at the time of the crash, which he also denied.

Mr Boever’s widow has indicated that she will file a wrongful death lawsuit against Mr Ravnsborg.

The victim’s family were angry that the Attorney General sent his lawyers to the sentencing and did not show up himself.

“Why, after having to wait nearly a year, do we not have the chance to face him?” Said Mr Boever’s sister, Jane Boever.

And she added that “his cowardly behaviour leaves us frustrated.”

Mr Ravnsborg’s attorney, Tim Rensch, said that his client was an “honourable man” who simply had not seen the victim.

“Accidents happen, people die. It should not happen. No one wants anybody to die,” he said.