Seattle Police Department fires officer who hit and killed Jaahnavi Kandula

The Seattle Police Department (SPD) officer who hit and killed a 23-year-old woman in the South Lake Union neighborhood in January 2023 has been fired.

In a department-wide email distributed Monday, Interim Police Chief Sue Rahr told officers she didn’t believe Officer Kevin Dave intended to hurt anyone, but that she “cannot accept the tragic consequences of his dangerous driving.”

Officials said Dave was responding alongside the Seattle Fire Department to a 911 call of a reported overdose on Jan. 23, 2023 when, while driving at 74 miles per hour, struck graduate student Jaahnavi Kandula, 23, in the Dexter Avenue and Thomas Street crosswalk, according to an SPD investigation. Investigators confirmed the officer’s lights were flashing and the siren was being toggled on and off as he approached the intersection.

“She was in a crosswalk, she saw me, she started running through the crosswalk,” Dave can be heard on body camera, telling fellow officers at the scene. “Slammed on my brakes.”

He told the officers Kandula darted in front of his car.

Killing of Kandula led to international outrage over Auderer’s joking

The deadly collision led a community into mourning. Within weeks, international outrage mounted, spurred by remarks from another officer, Dan Auderer, joking after Kandula’s death.

“She is dead,” Auderer was heard saying on a phone call with Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) President Mike Solan, according to captured bodycam footage.  He said a check for $11,000 should just be written. “She was 26 anyway. She had limited value,” Auderer said.

Auderer was also heard laughing during the phone call and the recorded comments.

But Auderer did not know his body camera video had recorded the conversation, which he later admitted in a statement for Seattle’s Office of Police Accountability (OPA). In the statement, Auderer also said that he intended the comment to be interpreted “as a mockery of lawyers.”

In addition to being an SPD officer, Auderer was the vice president of SPOG until Rahr fired him last summer.

The OPA, a civilian body acting as a police watchdog agency, separately investigated both officers.

King County prosecutors announced in February they would decline to charge Dave, saying at the time there was no evidence he drove with disregard for safety. On Dec. 17, Dave agreed to pay a $5,000 fine for 2nd-degree negligent driving, charged by the City of Seattle Attorney Ann Davison.

As part of the agreement, Dave’s license was not suspended, but he was required to take an 8-hour driving class and avoid committing serious traffic offenses for a year.

Seattle fires officer: Rahr outlines the policies Dave violated

In her email Monday, Rahr said the OPA found Dave had violated several departmental policies, including:

• A policy requiring officers to “modify their emergency response when appropriate.”
• A policy stating officers as “responsible for the safe operation of their police vehicle.”
• A policy requiring officers “use emergency lights for emergency response.”
• And a policy mandating police adhere to laws, city and department policies.

“I understand and accept that many will not agree with this decision,” Rahr wrote in the email. “This case is tragic on every level and will have lifelong implications for everyone involved. It is my hope that this heartbreaking situation will be an enduring reminder that officers responding to emergencies: Do not lose sight of the danger that is created by excessive speed when responding to emergency calls.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Contributing: Frank Sumrall and Steve Coogan, MyNorthwest

Sam Campbell is a reporter, editor and anchor at KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of Sam’s stories here. Follow Sam on X, or email him here.

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