South Dakota Investigates Fatal Crash Involving Attorney General

The attorney general, Jason R. Ravnsborg, called 911 to say he thought he had hit a deer late Saturday. The next morning, the body of Joe Boever, 55, was found nearby, the authorities said.

South Dakota’s attorney general, Jason R. Ravnsborg, was driving home alone from a Republican Party dinner on Saturday night when his car hit something, possibly a deer, he told the authorities. By the next day, the news had taken a grim turn: A man had been found dead near the highway. And the state’s top law enforcement officer was under investigation.

The dead man was officially identified Monday as Joe Boever, 55, of Highmore, S.D. He had apparently been walking along the highway to his disabled truck.

In a statement, Mr. Ravnsborg, 44, said that he was “shocked and filled with sorrow” and was “fully cooperating with the investigation.” He also offered his “deepest sympathy and condolences to the family” of the victim.

Because the attorney general oversees South Dakota’s Department of Public Safety, Gov. Kristi Noem announced Sunday evening that her office had taken over supervision of the case, with assistance from investigators in neighboring North Dakota, to avoid any conflicts of interest. Both Governor Noem and Mr. Ravnsborg are Republicans.

Governor Noem said that the impact had taken place before 10:30 p.m., while Mr. Ravnsborg was driving on U.S. Highway 14 west of the city of Highmore, S.D.

The head of the Department of Public Safety, Craig Price, had few details to share at the news conference. “Highway Patrol routinely investigates fatality crashes across our state, and we will handle this as we would any other fatal crash,” he said.

The department said in a statement on Monday that Mr. Ravnsborg, who lives in Pierre, told the Hyde County Sheriff’s Office that he had “been involved in a car-deer crash” in his 2011 Ford Taurus. The statement did not say if Mr. Ravnsborg had pulled over to look for the deer or to check his vehicle for damage. That is still under investigation, said Tony Mangan, a department spokesman.

The attorney general’s spokesman, Tim Bormann, said on Monday that Mr. Ravnsborg was not injured and was the only person in the car. He said Mr. Ravnsborg was returning from a South Dakota Republican Party event, the Lincoln Day Dinner in Redfield, and that he called 911 “at approximately 10:24 p.m. and informed authorities that he had struck something.”

Asked if Mr. Ravnsborg had been drinking that evening, Mr. Bormann said that the attorney general does not usually drink alcohol at Lincoln Day Dinners or other political events. “This is a policy he has had and adhered to since he was a candidate, and he continued that trend at the event Saturday evening,” he said.

The dead man’s cousin, Nick Nemec, said in an interview with The New York Times on Monday that his brother, Victor, had planned to meet Mr. Boever on Sunday morning to help him tow his pickup truck out of a ditch on Highway 14, a two-lane highway with wide shoulders. The day before, Mr. Boever’s truck had run into the ditch, hit a pile of hay, badly bending its bumper, he said, elaborating on an account given to The Argus Leader of Sioux Falls, S.D.

On the way to pick up his cousin on Sunday morning, Victor Nemec passed blood on the highway, a police investigation and Mr. Boever’s pickup, which was still in position about half a mile down the road. When there was no answer at Mr. Boever’s home, they feared the worst, Nick Nemec said.

Mr. Boever worked stints as a nurse’s aide and at a grocery store, his cousin said, but was most recently employed helping Victor Nemec haul hay on his cattle farm. The brothers identified their cousin’s body on Sunday, but were not sure why he was out on the road. Mr. Nemec speculated that he may have decided to return to the pickup to get something or to try to fix the bent bumper himself.

He also said that deer accidents were common in the area. “I’ve hit a number of deers in my vehicle, it’s just something that happens around here,” he said. “You always know the second before you hit a deer you’re going to hit a deer. And even if you do hit one, you pull over, stop and check for damages and report it.”

According to The Argus Leader, Mr. Ravnsborg has received six traffic tickets for speeding in the last six years. He also was cited for driving a vehicle without a proper exhaust and muffler system, and he received a seatbelt violation.

Mr. Ravnsborg has held the position of attorney general since 2018, when he was elected with just over 55 percent of the vote. He ran in the Republican primary for a United States Senate seat in 2014 but was not chosen as the nominee. Ms. Noem was elected governor in 2018.