Seattle cop laughed, joked about woman killed by police car

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Newly released bodycam footage reveals a Seattle police officer laughed and made light of the death of a young woman who was struck and killed by a cop car, joking she had “limited value” and the city should “just write a check.”

Officer Daniel Auderer can be heard in the video discussing the investigation into the wreck involving 23-year-old grad student Jaahnavi Kandula, who was struck and killed by his colleague, Officer Kevin Dave, on Jan. 23.

“She is dead,” Auderer says before bursting out laughing. “No, it’s a regular person,” he says, referring to Kandula.

Toward the end of the video, Auderer can be heard saying, 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.”

Auderer, who serves as the Seattle Police Guild’s vice president, also mentions in the clip that he did not believe a criminal investigation was being conducted.

Officer Daniel Auderer was caught on bodycam video laughing and joking about the fatal collision, one day after the accident. OpenOversight
Seattle Police Officer Kevin Dave fatally struck 23-year-old grad student Jaahnavi Kandula while speeding in January. FOX 13

“I mean, he was going 50 mph. That’s not out of control. That’s not reckless for a trained driver,” Auderer said.

However, 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, KIRO 7 reported.

Auderer responded to the scene of the Jan. 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 following evening.

Dave had chirped his siren but did not have it running continuously, as he plowed into Kandula — a master’s student at Northeastern University’s Seattle campus, footage of the incident shows.

Kandula, a 23-year-old graduate student from India, was set to graduate in December. FOX 13
Dave performed CPR on Kandula, a Northeastern University student, who died from the collision. FOX 13

Footage from Dave’s bodycam reveals he admitted he “f–ked up,” after speeding through the intersection of Dexter Avenue North and Thomas Street, where the speed limits are 25 and 20 mph, respectively.

Moments after reaching the top speed, he can be seen slowing the car before striking Kandula at the fateful intersection.

He performed CPR on the exchange student, who arrived at Northeastern University in Seattle from India to pursue a master’s of science information systems at the College of Engineering. She was due to graduate in December.

Video of the shocking phone call that came a day after the deadly collision was also uploaded to the Seattle Police Department’s YouTube page.

The Seattle Police Department released the video including Auderer’s comments “in the interest of transparency.” OpenOversight

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 speaks to the 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.

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