SEATTLE, WASHINGTON: The Seattle Police Department released a bodycam footage showing one of their officers laughing and seemingly downplaying the death of a young woman who was struck and killed by a police car.
The clip further showed the officer joking she had “limited value” and the city should “just write a check.”
Officer Daniel Auderer can be heard in the video discussing about the investigation into the accident involving 23-year-old grad student Jaahnavi Kandula who unfortunately lost her life after being struck by his colleague, Officer Kevin Dave, on January 23.
What did Daniel Auderer say in the video?
“She is dead,” Auderer said before he started to laugh. “No, it’s a regular person,” he said, referring to Kandula.
The officer can be heard toward the end of the video, through bursts of laughter, “Yeah, just write a check. Eleven thousand dollars. She was 26 anyway,” he said, misstating the victim’s age. “She had limited value,” he further said.
Auderer, who is the Seattle Police Guild’s vice president, also mentions in the clip that he did not believe a criminal investigation was being conducted.
“I mean, he was going 50 mph. That’s not out of control. That’s not reckless for a trained driver,” Auderer said.
What was the actual speed of the officer's vehicle?
According to KIRO 7, a report released in June revealed Dave was actually driving 74 mph in a 25-mph zone while responding to a different “high-priority” call.
Auderer responded to the scene of the January 23 crash to conduct a drug test on Dave.
Timestamps on the bodycam footage show that his call to another colleague about the incident took place the next evening.
Dave had switched on his siren but did not have it running continuously, as he collided into Kandula, a master’s student at Northeastern University’s Seattle campus, footage of the incident shows.
The officer's bodycam footage revealed he admitted he “f****d up,” after speeding through the intersection of Dexter Avenue North and Thomas Street.
In the video, he can seen be slowing down the car just moments after reaching the top speed before striking Kandula at the fateful intersection where the speed limits are 25 and 20 mph.
The victim was an exchange student from India
Dave performed CPR on the exchange student who arrived at Northeastern University in Seattle from India to pursue a master’s degree in science information systems at the College of Engineering. The victim was due to graduate in December.
Video of the shocking phone call that came a day after the fatal accident was also uploaded to the Seattle Police Department’s YouTube page.
The department, which released the video “in the interest of transparency,” said it will not comment on the matter until the Office of Police Accountability concludes its investigation into the incident.
The troubling call was “identified in the routine course of business by a department employee,” and escalated to Police Chief Adrian Diaz, who referred it to the Office of Police Accountability.
Seattle’s civilian-led Community Police Commission said the incident sparks concerns it has “repeatedly raised about elements of Seattle Police Department culture and SPOG resistance to officer accountability measures included in the landmark 2017 Police Accountability Ordinance.”
“The people of Seattle deserve better from a police department that is charged with fostering trust with the community and ensuring public safety,” the CPC added.
