CODINGTON COUNTY, S.D.- A 53-year-old male suffered fatal injuries in a single vehicle crash Saturday evening near Watertown, SD.

The name of the person involved has not been released pending notification of family members.

Preliminary crash information indicates the driver a 2016 Chrysler 300S was traveling westbound on 164th Street near 450th Avenue and failed to navigate the curve. The vehicle entered the north ditch and rolled. The driver died as a result of his injuries.

The South Dakota Highway Patrol is investigating the crash. All information released so far is only preliminary.

The Highway Patrol is an agency of the South Dakota Department of Public Safety.

 

PIERRE, S.D. – The South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation has started work on an investigation into an officer involved shooting that happened in Sioux Falls last week.

The incident occurred on Thursday, April 4th at around 1:30 in the afternoon.  Law enforcement was called to an assisted living center for people with severe mental illnesses near Cayman and Career. Sheriff’s deputies were serving a warrant for a mental illness hold and they called for backup.

South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley pointed out that warrants for a mental illness hold are issued by the Court and not law enforcement, but officers are required to serve the documents.

It was serving the documents that triggered this particular incident.

The situation went from serving papers, to extended discussions to an escalation that turned threatening to all involved.

A statement from the Attorney General said, “ultimately there was non-lethal force employed and then unfortunately the suspect had two knives and officers fired .223 shells and there were three shots.”

This is the first officer-involved shooting in South Dakota of 2024, with 7 instances in 2023. And while Jackley can’t speak for every officer-involved shooting, he says that many of them can relate back to mental illnesses.

“The strong majority of all officer-involved shootings involve some type of either mental illness or drug use and at times a combination of each. I think if you look at all of the reports or most of the reports that we issued, there is either a component of mental illness, a component of drug use, and oftentimes the individuals either on parole or probation,” said Jackley.

The suspect was immediately hospitalized after he was shot. Jackley says that the DCI report will take about 30 days to complete.

 

KNOX COUNTY, NE – A Knox County Court has sent the man accused of killing two men in Bloomfield to a psychiatric hospital in Lincoln.

Last week the attorney for 25-year-old Alias Reed requested that the court commit him to the Lincoln Regional Center. The motion comes after the results of a competency evaluation was provided to the court.  The evaluation says that Reed is presently incompetent to stand trial, but the doctor who prepared the evaluation believes his competency could be restored in the near future.

Reed’s attorney says that his client is having trouble understanding the gravity of the court proceedings and potential consequences he’s facing.

A Knox County judge granted the motion on Thursday afternoon. Reed was released to the Knox County Sheriff’s Office as they wait for a bed to open in Lincoln.

The court also scheduled a status hearing on Reed’s commitment for May 16.

Reed is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of use of a weapon to commit a felony. Prosecutors accuse Reed of murdering 77-year-old Curtis Strom and 49-year-old William Reffett on Feb. 20.

The case for his wife, 27-year-old Kaylyne Sweazy, has been bound to district court. She’s accused of helping to hide a shotgun used in the killings. Her arraignment was initially set for March 26, but it has been continued to April 30.

 

RAPID CITY, S.D. – The Rapid City Police Department (RCPD) and the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office Special Response Team arrested a man following a standoff at a motel in Rapid City.

Rapid police responded to the Super 8 Motel on Mount Rushmore Road and Cleveland Street after a reported sighting of 52-year-old James Lewis Norris Jr.  Police says Norris had barricaded himself in a room at the motel.  Super 8 Motel on Mount Rushmore Road and Cleveland Street.

When initial contact with Norris Jr. was made, he advised law enforcement that he had a gun and refused to open the door – creating a dangerous situation and necessitating a call to the Special Response Team.

After several hours, Norris was taken into custody.

Norris Jr. currently has no bond arrest warrants for 1st Degree Rape, 2nd Degree rape, Committing a Felony with a Firearm, Sexual Contact with a Child Under 16, Assault Domestic Violence, Abuse of a Minor under the age of 7, Simple Assault, and False Imprisonment.

 

LINCOLN, NE – A bill in the Nebraska legislature that would have restricted K-12 students access to sports teams and school facilities based upon their assigned sex at birth stalled in the unicameral on Friday following a failed cloture motion.

LB-575 would have adopted the Sports and Spaces Act and would have restricted students to using school bathrooms and participating in school sports that directly correspond to the sex assigned at birth for the individual and not their current gender identity.

The bill would have required public and private schools in Nebraska to designate each group bathroom and locker rooms in school buildings for use by either biological males or biological females, based on chromosomes and anatomy and restrict the use of those particular facilities by those definitions.

Following four hours of debate a motion was made to invoke cloture, a move that would have ended the debate and forced a vote on the bill along with any pending amendments that may be attached.  That motion failed 31-15.

It is unlikely that the bill will be placed on the agenda again this session.

 

PIERRE, S.D. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight) – In response to hundreds of opposition comments, the Game, Fish and Parks Commission curtailed a proposal to expand waterfowl licenses for hunters from other states.

“We’re not always going to rubber-stamp everything,” said Commission Chair Stephanie Rissler.

The amended proposal, which affects duck and goose hunting, passed the commission on a unanimous vote. It increases the number of nonresident waterfowl licenses by 105, rather than the previously proposed 315. The extra licenses can only be used on private land in some parts of eastern South Dakota, but not in the northeastern corner of the state, where resident hunters have complained of too much competition for a suitable hunting spot.

The move increases the nonresident license allocation from 6,300 to 6,405. Resident licenses are unlimited.

After lawmakers empowered the commission to adjust nonresident license caps in 2014, the authority was not used until last year, when the commission added 100 licenses to be used on private land in two areas of the northeastern corner of the state, and another 200 licenses to be shared among residents and nonresidents in a large area outside the northeast. That resulted in pushback from some resident duck hunters.

The current proposal was altered after hundreds of public comments against it and seven in favor. Multiple members of the public and organizations including the South Dakota Wildlife Federation, Izaak Walton League of America, and the South Dakota Waterfowl Association testified in person against the plan.

“Our public trust resources are not for sale,” said Dana Rogers, the South Dakota Wildlife Federation’s new executive director.

The proposal for additional nonresident licenses came in response to a long trend of decline in waterfowl hunting. Waterfowl hunter numbers in South Dakota dropped 47% from 32,217 in 2003 to 17,042 in 2022.

One factor in the decline is vanishing habitat and hunting areas, according to a 2017 Game, Fish and Parks survey of waterfowl hunters. Over 70% of respondents reported being “very concerned” about the loss of hunting opportunities due to a loss of wetlands. One of the culprits is “drain tile” – perforated pipes in the soil to drain unwanted water from farm fields.

“Wetlands are being drained left and right,” testified Chuck Dieter, professor emeritus of natural resource management at South Dakota State University. He said that has resulted in fewer hunting spots, putting more pressure on the wetlands available.

Eric Paulson of Pierre pointed the commission to Ducks Unlimited data showing a decline in waterfowl population numbers.

“Duck numbers are dropping and hunter numbers are also dropping due to pressure and competition,” he wrote. “As the duck numbers drop, the opportunities drop, and hunters get more congested chasing few birds in the same spot.”

Additionally, some hunters have said getting licensed and learning the rules of how, what, when and where to shoot ducks is a barrier to entry for people who did not grow up hunting.

Even some nonresidents submitted comments in opposition to making more licenses available for them.

“We have come to SD to enjoy the great hunting,” wrote Tim Anderson of Mankato, Minnesota. “However, that has really begun to change over the last 10 years. Increased pressure from residents and NRs [nonresidents] has increased the hunting pressure on public lands and gaining permission on private land has become much, much harder.”

Out-of-state duck hunters have been controversial in South Dakota for decades. When World War II veterans returned to South Dakota and found nonresident duck hunters on their favorite hunting spots, they pressured the Legislature to take action.

In 1947, the Legislature banned nonresidents from duck hunting, but the ban was repealed in 1970. Debates ensued, ultimately resulting in a gradual increase in nonresident waterfowl hunting licenses.

In 2014, the Legislature removed legal limits on nonresident licenses and passed control of licensing decisions to the GF&P Commission. That law also prohibits the commission from increasing license numbers by more than 5% of the previous year’s allocation.

“Just because you are allowed to up that, does not mean you should do that,” testified Paul Lepisto, with the Izaak Walton League of America.

Dick Werner, the Republican former lawmaker from Herried who sponsored the 2014 bill, spoke in favor of the proposal during the previous commission hearing.

“You are asked to make tough decisions that not everyone agrees with; that is the nature of public service,” he said. “Your task is to make the decision that is in the best interest of South Dakota.”

South Dakota’s next duck season runs from September to January.