Seattle cop laughed, joked about woman killed by police car

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 outbursts of laughter, “Yeah, just write a check. $11,000 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.

“I mean, he was going 50mph. 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 at 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 recognition 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 consistently, as he plowed into Kandula — a master’s student at Northeastern University’s Seattle campus, footage of the incident shows.

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 down 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 Masters 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 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 then referred it to the Office of Police Accountability.

Seattle’s civilian-led Community Police Commission said the incident speaks to the concerns they have “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.