New Delhi: A police car in United States’ Seattle hit Jaahnavi Kandula, a 23-year-old student from Andhra Pradesh, on January 23 near Northeastern University campus in South Lake Union. The internet is outraged by a shocking video clip, in which Seattle Police Officers’ Guild Vice President Daniel Auderer is heard mocking Kandula’s death, saying, “she had limited value”, in a call with the guild’s president, Mike Solan.
Kandula, who belonged to Kurnool, was walking near Dexter Avenue North and Thomas Street when Seattle Police officer Kevin Dave struck her with his vehicle on January 23. Auderer, who was sent to check if Dave was intoxicated, accidentally left his body camera on, in which he was heard laughing and saying that Kandula’s life had “limited value” and the city should “just write a check”, The Seattle Times reported on Monday.
“Eleven thousand dollars. She was 26 anyway,” Auderer said, adding Dave was “going 50 (miles an hour)”, claiming how “that’s not out of control” for a trained driver.
Seattle Police Officer Daniel Auderer caught on bodycam laughing about 23-year-old grad student Jaahnavi Kandula, who was struck and killed by his colleague, Officer Kevin Dave, on Jan. 23.
Prayers for Jaahnavi’s family.@OPASeattle @SeattlePD @stimesmcarter… pic.twitter.com/eeSyn4Xgsr
— Marietta (@MariettaDaviz) September 12, 2023
The SPD said in a statement released on Monday that a department employee identified the video of Auderer’s call “in the routine course of business”, and escalated it to Chief Adrian Diaz. Following the chain of command, the employee then escalated it to the Office of Police Accountability for a review, the statement added.
Stating that it released the video “in the interest of transparency”, the SPD said it will not comment further on the video until the OPA completes its investigation. According to the KTTH radio station in Seattle, Auderer said he was ridiculing the lawyers when he made that comment. Auderer said that while talking to Solan, he had “lamented” Kandula’s death, stating that it was unfortunate that her death would “turn into lawyers arguing ‘the value of human life”.
“I responded with something like: ‘She’s 26 years old. What value is there? Who cares?’ I intended the comment as a mockery of lawyers,” Auderer was cited as saying in KTTH. “I was imitating what a lawyer tasked with negotiating the case would be saying and being sarcastic to express that they shouldn’t be coming up with crazy arguments to minimise the payment,” he added.
Auderer further said that he had laughed at the absurdity of how these cases are litigated and the absurdity of how he watched these incidents play out as two parties bargained over a tragedy. Kandula, who was raised by a single mother who taught in an elementary school, was due to graduate in December this year.
