The police officer who made derogatory inhumane remarks about the death of 23-year-old Jaahnavi Kandula in January 2023 has been fired.
In a department email on Wednesday, interim Seattle Police Chief Sue Rahr said the actions of Daniel Auderer “have brought shame on the Seattle Police Department and our entire profession… For me to allow the officer to remain on our force would only bring further dishonor to the entire department. For that reason, I am going to terminate his employment.”
Jaahnavi Kandula
Kandula was killed when she was struck by a vehicle driven by Officer Kevin Dave on Jan. 23, 2023. He was speeding and he did not have his sirens activated. Kandula was walking in a crosswalk when Dave struck her. Officer Dave was later cited by the Seattle City Attorney’s Office for negligent driving.
In the immediate aftermath of the collision, Auderer, the vice president of the Seattle Police Officer’s Guild (SPOG), was involved in a call with Mike Solan, the president of SPOG. Auderer’s body camera recorded the conversation and you can hear him saying, “Yeah, just write a check. $11,000. She was 26 anyway. She had limited value.”
Solan and Auderer have said their call was private, mostly union-related and never intended to be made public. They say their conversation was meant to express their mockery of and exasperation with a legal process in which they claimed civil lawyers would argue and try to place a dollar value on Kandula’s life.
Rahr said she received a number of letters in support of Auderer from fellow officers but concluded that his “cruel and callous laughter” and the pain inflicted on Kandula’s family could not be outweighed by Auderer’s good reputation.
Mayor Bruce Harrell said in a statement that he supports Rahr’s decision.