The Seattle police officer who laughed about the death of a young graduate student, casually joking that his life had “limited value” after a colleague killed him in his cruiser, has been relieved of active patrol.
Officer Daniel Auderer “has been administratively reassigned to a non-operational position,” the Seattle Police Department confirmed to the Seattle Times Thursday.
It’s unclear when Auderer will be reassigned to the desk, but a week ago a police watchdog group demanded that Seattle police suspend him without pay.
The traffic cop, who is also vice president of the Seattle Police Officers Association, was investigated by the department after an employee uncovered a body camera clip in which he made offensive remarks about 23-year-old Jaahnavi Kandula.
The graduate student from India was crossing the street on January 23 when he was struck and killed by a police vehicle that rushed to the scene of a reported overdose.
Body camera video captures Jaahnavi Kandula’s sudden death after being hit and killed by a Seattle police car as she was crossing the street. FOX 13 Jaahnavi Kandula is a 23-year-old student at Northeastern University. Fox 13
The officer behind the wheel, Kevin Dave, was driving 74 mph in a 25 mph zone with police cruiser lights flashing when he hit Kandula — throwing him 138 feet.
Auderer was called to the scene to determine if Dave was impaired.
He got on the phone with Seattle Police Officers Association president Mike Solan in his police cruiser and forgot to turn off his body-worn camera, which caught only one part of their conversation.
Officer Daniel Auderer of the Seattle Police has been removed from patrol after his remarks sparked national outrage.OpenOversight It is unclear when Auderer will be reassigned to the desk after his body camera footage went viral.OpenOversight
“But he’s dead,” Auderer can be heard telling Solan on the phone then laughs at something he replies. “No, it’s an ordinary person.”
“Yeah, just write a check,” Auderer said after listening to Solan laughing. “$11,000. He is 26 years old. He has limited value.”
He misstated Kandula’s age and also claimed that Dave had been driving 50 miles per hour.
The short clip only recorded what Auderer had to say. It did not include Solan’s statement over the phone.
The Seattle Police Officers Association claimed the conversation was out of context and that Auderer and Solan only mocked how the city attorney would approach the case in an effort to minimize liability.
The Seattle Police Accountability Office launched an investigation into the troubling comments on Aug. 2 after police department personnel reviewing footage of the crash that claimed Kandula’s life found it and flagged it to the police department’s attorney.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
