'Lasting shame': Officer fired for joking about woman who was fatally run over by another police officer

Inset: Jaahnavi Kandula (GoFundMe). Background: Footage from the aftermath of Seattle Police officer Kevin Dave fatally striking striking her at a crosswalk (KING).

The police officer heard on bodycam joking about a young woman’s traffic crash death has been fired. Det. Daniel Auderer, a vice president of the police guild, lost his job on Wednesday.

Seattle police commanders reportedly recommended in February that he either receive a suspension or get fired. Interim police chief Sue Rahr sided with termination, saying that Auderer’s comments brought “lasting shame” on the department ( h/t The Seattle Times ).

Det. Daniel Auderer was recorded on bodycam after responding to the scene where follow officer Kevin Dave fatally struck Northeastern University master’s degree student Jaahnavi Kandula, 23.

“Yeah just write a check….11 thousand dollars,” he told another officer on the phone. “She was 26, she had limited value.”

Rahr’s disciplinary action report noted that he did not know he was being recorded.

“Three seconds later, you apparently realized your body worn camera was on, and your hand jerked from the steering wheel to deactivate the device,” she wrote.

Dave had allegedly been going 74 mph in a 25 mph zone while on the way to an overdose call on Jan. 23, 2023. Meanwhile, Kandula was walking westbound on Thomas Street at Dexter Avenue North. Construction barriers and an angled sidewalk reportedly blocked her view of northbound traffic. Then she reached the crosswalk. Dave hit his breaks a second before striking her, but was going 63 mph during the collision, officers reportedly said.

He was given a traffic citation in March, with prosecutors previously saying that even if they could prove negligent driving, negligent driving did not meet the legal threshold for felony criminal charges in Washington state.

Auderer reportedly told internal investigators that he was not mocking Kandula in his “limited value” comment, but instead the city’s attorneys who might have to negotiate a settlement with her family’s lawyers should a lawsuit be filed. Rahr, however, maintained his comment went over the line.

“The hurt your words have inflicted on Ms. Kandula’s family and community cannot be erased,” she wrote. “Your individual actions have brought lasting shame on the Seattle Police Department, disgrace on our entire profession, and make the job of every police officer more difficult. It is my duty as the leader of this organization to uphold the high standards necessary to maintain public trust. For me to allow you to continue your employment with SPD would bring dishonor to the entire department.”

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