The Seattle Police Department has dismissed a police officer, Daniel Auderer, for making insensitive comments and laughing after the tragic death of a 23-year-old Indian student, Jaahnavi Kandula. The incident occurred last year on 23 January; Kandula was hit and killed by Department Officer Kevin Dave, who was speeding at the time.
Bodycam footage shows Auderer making cold and heartless statements, his comments punctuated by his laughter: "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." Other upsetting comments by Auderer were those in which he referred to Kandula's "limited value" and laughed about it.
Interim Chief Sue Rahr said, "Auderer's words caused immeasurable pain for Kandula's family and brought shame upon the entire police department." Rahr continued saying that as a leader she is under obligation to ensure standards that will preserve public trust. For this reason, as she had assessed, she had no choice but to terminate Auderer since he had already caused irreparable damage to the reputation of the department.
He said that the case raises the issue of balancing intent to impact. While Auderer stated his comments were just a thing to make fun of the city attorneys, the impact of his words was undeniable. The public went on outrage; and internationally, there was so much attention given to the incident. Rahr added that police officers have the power to take away someone's liberty and in the most extraordinary case, a person's life. This authority is founded upon public trust that officers will not take a life needlessly. Auderer broke that trust, and such an act of betrayal inflicts shattering harm to the public's trust in the Seattle Police Department as a whole.
On another front, the King County Prosecutor's Office announced that it would not criminally charge Dave due to a lack of evidence. The Seattle City Attorney issued a $5,000 traffic infraction against him.
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