Ravnsborg crash investigation delivered to House; Secretary Price says charge should have been manslaughter

PIERRE, S.D. — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has renewed her efforts to force the state’s attorney general from office after he hit and killed a pedestrian last year. She delivered to the House speaker an external hard drive containing the crash investigation file.

The House had indicated earlier this year that it might resume talks of impeachment after the trial against Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg concluded. The Republican attorney general pleaded no contest to a pair of traffic misdemeanors for a crash last year that killed Joseph Boever, who walking along a rural highway last Sept. 12.

Included in the documents is a letter from the Secretary of the South Dakota Department of Public Safety, Craig Price.  In it, Price says, “In my opinion as a 24-year law enforcement officer and in the opinion of the highly trained highway patrol officers involved in this investigation, Mr. Ravnsborg should have been charged with 2nd Degree Manslaughter.” The charges filed were up to the prosecutors, led by Sully County States Attorney Emily Sovell.

Price also says the investigation was done correctly by all those involved.