Articles of impeachment have been filed in the South Dakota House of Representatives against state Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, who faces 3 misdemeanor charges in the Sept death of a pedestrian he hit with his car.
Republican Representative Will Mortensen, who filed the articles on behalf of a bipartisan group of lawmakers, said in a release that the decision was “unpleasant and the situation is truly tragic, for all involved.”
Mortensen also said that although he doesn’t believe Ravnsborg belongs in prison, he also doesn’t deserve to hold his current office.
A spokesperson for Gov Kristi Noem told the South Dakota Broadcasters Association that Noem supports the impeachment proceedings, as do the House Majority and Minority Leaders Kent Peterson and Jamie Smith.
Ravnsborg’s office released a statement late Tuesday saying the attorney general does not intend to resign because “at no time has this issue impeded his ability to do the work of the office.”
Noem has released videos of Ravnsborg’s two interviews with law enforcement in the aftermath of the accident. In them, investigators confront him with the gruesome details of the crash that killed 55-year old Joe Boever
Ravnsborg appeared unsure of many details, but insisted he was not on his cell phone reading political articles and had put the phone on the passenger seat when he hit what he thought at the time was a deer.
Investigators told him that Boever’s glasses were found on the passenger seat, meaning his head went through Ravnsborg’s windshield, but the attorney general insisted the first time he saw Boever was when he returned there the next morning
KELO-TV reports that when investigators arrived at the crash scene the next day, they found a flashlight, still on, lying next to Boever’s body just inches from the road.