In a conversation with Mike Solan, the head of the Seattle Police Officersā€™ Guild, Seattle Police Department officer and SPOG vice president Daniel Auderer minimized the killing of 23-year-old student Jaahnavi Kandula by police officer Kevin Dave and joked that she had ā€œlimited valueā€ as a ā€œregular personā€ who was only 26 years old.

In the video, taken in the early morning after Dave hit Kandula in a crosswalk while speeding to respond to a call from a man who believed he had taken too much cocaine, Auderer says he has talked to Dave and he is ā€œgood,ā€ adding that ā€ it does not seem like thereā€™s a criminal investigation going onā€ because Dave was ā€œgoing 50 [mph]ā€”thatā€™s not out of controlā€ and because Kandula may not have even been in a crosswalk. Auderer added that Dave had ā€œlights and sirensā€ on, which video confirmed was not true.

In fact, as we reported exclusively, Dave was driving 74 miles an hour in a 25 mile per hour zone and struck Kandula while she was attempting to cross the street in a marked and well-lighted crosswalk.

ā€œI think she went up on the hood, hit the windshield, then when he hit the brakes, she flew off the car. But she is dead. No, itā€™s a regular person. Yeah, just write a check. Yeah, $11,000. She was 26 anyway, she had limited value.ā€ā€”Seattle police officer Daniel Auderer, joking with police union president Mike Solan about the death of pedestrian Jaahnavi Kandula earlier that night.

ā€œI donā€™t think she was thrown 40 feet either,ā€ Auderer told Solan. ā€œI think she went up on the hood, hit the windshield, then when he hit the brakes, she flew off the car. But she is dead.ā€ Then Auderer laughed loudly at something Solan said. ā€œNo, itā€™s a regular person. Yeah.ā€

We have asked SPOG via email what Solan asked that made Auderer clarify that Kandula was a ā€œregularā€ person, as opposed to another type of person Dave might have hit.

ā€œYeah, just write a check,ā€ Auderer continued. Then he laughed again for several seconds. ā€œYeah, $11,000. She was 26 anyway, she had limited value.ā€ At this point, Auderer turned off his body camera and the recording stops.

Joel Merkel, the co-chair of Seattleā€™s Community Police Commission, called the video ā€œshockingly insensitive.

ā€œI was just really struck by the casual laughter and attitudeā€”this was moments after she was killed,ā€ Merkel said. ā€œYou have the vice president of SPOG on the telephone with the president of SPOG essentially laughing and joking about the pedestrianā€™s death and putting a dollar value on her head, and that alone is just disgusting and inhumane,ā€ Merkel said.

[article continues]

  • herescunty@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I always say Iā€™m glad that someone does it because I wouldnā€™t want to. None of my friends are cops tho, and thatā€™s not accidental.