The South Dakota attorney general reportedly hit and killed a man with his car Saturday night but told officials that he had hit a deer, the Rapid City Journal reported.
Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, 44, told authorities that he had hit a deer on the highway around 10:30 p.m. Saturday night, the Department of Public Safety (DPS) said in a Monday morning news release reported by the Rapid City Journal. The next morning, the body of 55-year-old Joe Boever was discovered. (RELATED: Man Arrested In Deadly Hit-And-Run Accident Had Been Deported Six Different Times)
BREAKING: The South Dakota Attorney General reported hitting a deer Saturday night but had actually hit and killed a man whose body wasn’t discovered until the next morning, according to the Department of Public Safety. Story coming ASAP. Then will update with info from relatives
— Arielle Zionts (@Ajzionts) September 14, 2020
The attorney general had been attending an event hosted by the South Dakota Republican Party prior to the crash, according to the Rapid City Journal.
Boever’s cousin Nick Nemec told Rapid City Journal reporter Arielle Zionts, “my cousin got run over by the Attorney General.”
“A deer doesn’t look like a human,” Nemec’s brother Victor said.
It’s unclear whether Ravnsborg got out of his car to confirm he hit a deer, or if he had called 911 or a different line to report the incident. It’s also unclear who discovered Boever’s body.
Tim Bormann, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office, told the Rapid City Journal that South Dakota’s Division of Criminal Investigation would not be investigating the incident because it is part of the attorney general’s office. The North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation will be assisting with the investigation, according to the report.
Bormann added that Ravnsborg was not injured in the crash, the Rapid City Journal reported.