US cop fired over ‘cruel comments’ about pedestrian’s death

SEATTLE - A Seattle police officer was fired on July 17 for his “cruel comments” and “callous laughter” about a pedestrian who was struck and killed by a police vehicle in 2023, the city’s interim police chief said.

The officer, Mr Daniel Auderer, who is also a vice-president of the city’s police union, unintentionally recorded himself laughing as he discussed the 2023 death of the woman, Ms Jaahnavi Kandula, 23, soon after a speeding police sport utility vehicle driven by another Seattle officer hit her. She later died.

Mr Auderer’s comments, which included

saying that Ms Kandula’s life had “limited value”

, were recorded by his body camera.

The release of the video and his comments drew public outcry and protests in Seattle and India, where Ms Kandula, who was a graduate student at Northeastern University’s Seattle campus, was born.

Seattle’s interim police chief Sue Rahr explained her decision to terminate Mr Auderer in an e-mail sent to the department on the evening of July 17.

Ms Rahr said she took the unusual step of sharing the reasoning because the officer’s actions had far-reaching impact.

“Your comments here were so derogatory, hurtful and damaging to community trust that this case is unique, both in terms of the inhumanity of your comments and laughter and in the devastating impact they have had,” she said.

Ms Rahr said she considered several factors in her decision, including the role of body-worn video cameras in improving transparency and gaining public trust; the use of occasional “gallows humour” among officers to cope with traumatic events; and the tragic death of Ms Kandula.

“At the root of this case lies an extremely difficult judgment call of how to fairly balance intent versus impact,” Ms Rahr wrote, later adding: “I believe the impact of his actions is so devastating that it cannot be mitigated by his intent to keep his conversation private.”

In the department’s disciplinary action report, Ms Rahr said the officer had been reprimanded in 2018 for ridiculing someone who disclosed a medical condition that made it difficult to follow the officer’s orders.

Ms Rahr said in her e-mail to the department that there was “no doubt” that Mr Auderer’s “cruel comments and callous laughter about the tragic death caused deep pain to Ms Kandula’s family, but also immeasurable damage to the public trust of police in the Seattle community, across the nation and around the world”.

Mayor Bruce Harrell of Seattle said in a statement that he supported Ms Rahr’s decision “because it recognises our values of accountability, continuous improvement and the public trust necessary for our police officers to protect the people of Seattle”.

“Effective policing requires public trust,” he said. “It cannot be effective if the people being served have doubts about our officers’ motivations, conduct or character.”

Mr Auderer and his family could not be reached for comment on July 18.

The Seattle police union did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The comments that led to his firing were made on Jan 23, 2023.

In the video, Mr Auderer is driving his police cruiser, talking on the phone to another person, who was identified by the police union as its president, Mr Mike Solan. Mr Solan’s voice cannot be heard in the video.

“She is dead,” Mr Auderer tells Mr Solan, and then bursts out laughing after a pause. “No, it’s a regular person,” Mr Auderer says, adding: “Yeah, just write a check – US$11,000. She was 26, anyway. She had limited value.”

Mr Auderer later said in a letter to the Seattle Office of Police Accountability that he had only been mocking lawyers who become involved in negotiations over such cases.

A police report on the crash, reported by The Seattle Times, PubliCola and other news outlets, said officer Kevin A. Dave had been responding to an overdose call and driving 119kmh in a 40kmh zone when he struck Ms Kandula.

She was in critical condition when she was taken to hospital, where she died, police said.

King County prosecutors did not file criminal charges against Mr Dave. NYTIMES