Hmm, I wonder what happened to the "open range" law. Must have been repealed in that state.
Hmmmmm. Wonder how that woman's six kids are going to make it without their mom. Ah, well, cows must be allowed to run free....
I thought that cattle had the right-of-way.
I guess it depends on whether it's marked as open range. If officers are asking him to better maintain his critter containment, I'd imagine he doesn't run these cattle in open range. I don't know about NoDak, but there are several places in SoDak where the highways warn the driver he is entering open range, which basically means drive it at your own risk. I've seen the same signs in Wyoming and Montana.
"Open Range" is a land designation, not a law.
This rancher is toast if the collision occurred off of "open range". Which I am assuming it is or LE wouldn't be enforcing it.
His fences are in disrepair and he is (possibly) too old to fix them himself and too cheap or too broke to pay to have it done, so his cattle are frequently on the highway and now six kids are orphans and the deputies that had to clean up the highway fatality are sick and angry about it.
He's not going to have a ranch left after the civil wrongful death suit, since he has a lengthy history of negligence documented by the sherrif's dept.