Jaahnavi Kandula death: Seattle police officer defends action

The Seattle Police Officers' Guild on Friday came out in defence of its official, who was found making insensitive comments after the death of Indian student Jaahnavi Kandula early this year, saying some viral videos of police actions shared by media fail to explain the full story and context.

Kandula, a student at Washington's Northeastern University, was struck by officer Kevin Dave at a pedestrian crossing on the night of January 23, 2023. He was driving at a speed of more than 119 kmh on the way to a report of a drug overdose call.

In a bodycam footage released on Monday by the Seattle Police Department, Officer Daniel Auderer laughed about the deadly crash and dismissed any implication Dave might be at fault or that a criminal investigation was necessary.

In the video, Auderer can be heard saying, "Yeah, just write a cheque. USD 11,000. She was 26 anyway, she had limited value." "The video captures only one side of the conversation. There is much more detail and nuance that has not been made public yet…," the Seattle Police Officers Guild said in a statement as it also released a letter written by its officer Auderer in which the latter is saying that he intended the comment as a mockery of lawyers.

In the letter dated August 3 to the Office of Police Accountability, Auderer said he laughed at the ridiculousness of how these incidents are litigated and the ridiculousness of how he has watched these incidents play out as two parties bargain over a tragedy.