In a significant development, a police officer from Seattle, U.S., who killed Indian student Jaahnavi Kandula in January 2023 when the patrol vehicle he was driving struck her, has been fired from the police department, officials said.
Kandula, 23, from Andhra Pradesh, was struck by a police vehicle driven by Officer Kevin Dave when she was crossing a street in Seattle on January 23, 2023. He was driving 74 mph (more than 119 km/h) on the way to a report of a drug overdose call.
Kandula was thrown 100 feet when she was struck by the speeding police patrol vehicle.
According to a report in The Seattle Times on Monday (January 6, 2024), Interim Seattle Police Chief Sue Rahr said that she had fired Mr. Dave from the Seattle Police Department.
The report, citing an email sent by Ms. Rahr to employees, said she fired Mr. Dave on Monday after the Seattle Office of Police Accountability found he had violated four department policies.
“I believe the officer did not intend to hurt anyone that night and that he was trying to get to a possible overdose victim as quickly as possible,” Ms. Rahr said.
“However, I cannot accept the tragic consequences of his dangerous driving. His positive intent does not mitigate the poor decision that caused the loss of human life and brought discredit to the Seattle Police Department,” according to The Seattle Times report.
It added that the policies Mr. Dave failed to follow “include using emergency lights for an emergency response and being responsible for safely operating a patrol vehicle”, according to the copy of Ms. Rahr’s email.
The development comes months after another Seattle police officer Daniel Auderer was fired following his insensitive comments and laughter after Kandula’s death.
The Consulate General of India in Seattle had been working consistently with authorities and law enforcement officials to ensure justice in the case, with Mr. Auderer’s firing and now the action against Mr. Dave bringing a sense of closure and justice for Kandula’s family.
Consulate in touch with family
The Consulate had been in regular touch with Kandula’s family representatives and had said that it would continue to extend all possible support in ensuring justice for Jaahnavi and her family.
In a February 2024 post on X, the Indian Consulate in Seattle said that “On the recently released investigation report of the King County Prosecution Attorney on the unfortunate death of Jaahnavi Kandula, Consulate has been in regular touch with the designated family representatives and will continue to extend all possible support in ensuring justice for Kandula and her family.
“We have also raised the matter strongly with local authorities, including Seattle Police for appropriate redress. The case has now been referred to the Seattle City Attorney’s office for review. We await completion of Seattle Police’s administrative investigation and will continue to monitor progress on the case.”
Ms. Rahr was appointed as interim chief in May 2024 and in July last year, she had announced Mr. Auderer’s firing. However, decision about Mr. Dave’s action came in only now.
Insensitive comments
In bodycam footage released by the Seattle Police Department, Mr. Auderer was heard laughing after the deadly crash and had remarked “Uh, I think she went up on the hood, hit the windshield, and then when he hit the brakes, flew off the car… But she is dead.”
After making these comments, Mr. Auderer “laughed hard for four seconds,” the department’s Disciplinary Action Report said.
Mr. Auderer’s body-worn camera also captured him as saying, “Yeah, just write a check. Just, yeah (laughter). $11,000. She was 26, anyway. She had limited value.”
When asked at an Office of Police Accountability interview about his comments that Kandula had “limited value”, Mr. Auderer had claimed he was “ridiculing the city attorneys who would be tasked with litigating a potential wrongful death lawsuit.”
Ms. Rahr had said in an internal email, seen by PTI, that the hurt Mr. Auderer’s words inflicted on Kandula’s family “cannot be erased. The actions (of) this individual police officer have brought shame on the Seattle Police Department and our entire profession, making the job of every police officer more difficult.”
Ms. Rahr had said that as the leader of the organisation, it is her duty to uphold the high standards necessary to maintain public trust.
“For me to allow the officer to remain on our force would only bring further dishonour to the entire department. For that reason, I am going to terminate his employment,” she had said in the internal email about Auderer.
“Our government gives police officers the authority to deprive people of their liberty and in the most extreme circumstances, their life. This authority rests on the public’s trust that officers will demonstrate respect for the sanctity of human life. The officer’s laughter and callous comments about the “limited value” of Kandula’s life displayed a cruel mockery of the sanctity of her life. That is a betrayal of that sacred trust. Not only did his comments irrevocably break the public’s trust in the officer, individually, but they caused extreme damage to the public’s trust of the entire Seattle Police Department,” Ms. Rahr had said.
Published – January 07, 2025 12:27 pm IST
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