Daniel Auderer was heard laughing about the deadly crash
The US police officer who ran over an Indian student while responding to an overdose call, will not face any criminal charges due to lack of "sufficient" evidence, authorities said.
Jaahnavi Kandula, 23, was killed by a speeding police car while crossing a street in Seattle on January 23 last year. Seattle Police officer Kevin Dave was reportedly driving at a speed of 119 km/h on the way to a report of a drug overdose call. Ms Kandula was thrown 100 feet when she was struck by the police patrol vehicle.
In bodycam footage released by the Seattle Police Department in September last year, Dave's colleague and officer Daniel Auderer, who was dispatched to assist with the fatality collision, was heard laughing about the deadly crash. He was also heard dismissing any implication that Dave might be at fault or that a criminal investigation was necessary.
"Just write a cheque. USD 11,000. She was 26 anyway, she had limited value," Auderer was heard saying in the video.
Amid outrage over the insensitive remarks, he was pulled off patrol duty.
Daniel Auderer's clarification
Daniel Auderer later said that he intended the comment as a mockery of lawyers. In a letter dated to the Office of Police Accountability, Auderer reportedly 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.
"At the time I believed the conversation was private and not being recorded. The conversation was also not within the course of my duties," he wrote in his letter to Gino Betts, director Office of Police Accountability, the news agency PTI reported.
"While en route home, I called Mike Solan to give him an update regarding what had occurred. The phone call was inadvertently recorded on my BWV (body worn video) which had turned on. The conversation took place in my patrol car. I was the only occupant. During that phone call, Mike Olan stated something to the effect that it was unfortunate that this would turn into lawyers arguing 'The value of human life.'," he wrote.
"Mike Solan asked me as he was lamenting the loss of life something similar to: 'What crazy argument can a lawyer make in something like this? What crazy thing can they come up with.' 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 - 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 minimize the payment," Auderer added.
"I laughed at the ridiculousness of how these incidents are litigated and the ridiculousness of how I have watched these incidents play out as two parties bargain over a tragedy. At the time I believed the conversation was private and not being recorded. The conversation was also not within the course of my duties," the police officer said.
He said that he understands that without context, the comment could be interpreted as "horrifying and crude".
"Without context, the comment is insensitive to the family of the victim when in reality I was involved in a conversation regarding the callousness of the legal system. At the time I had no idea who the victim was," he said.
Auderer said he does understand that if a citizen were to hear it they would rightfully believe he was being insensitive to the loss of a human life.
"I also understand that if heard it could diminish the trust in the Seattle Police Department and make all of our jobs more difficult. With all of that being said the comment was not made with malice or a hard heart, quite the opposite.
"My intent in requesting rapid adjudication is to be as transparent as possible. I am willing to accept any reasonable discipline our accountability partners and the Chief of Police wish to hand down," he said.
Who was Jaahnavi Kandula?
Jaahnavi Kandul was from Andhra Pradesh and pursuing a master's degree from the Northeastern University campus in South Lake Union.
As per reports, she went to the US from Bengaluru on a student exchange programme in 2021 and was due to graduate in December 2023.
After Ms Kandul's death, her university decided to award her degree posthumously and present it to her family.