Seattle Cop Defends Laughing About ‘Limited Value’ Student Killed By Police
Officer Daniel Auderer claimed his cold-hearted laughter at 23-year-old Jaahnavi Kandula’s death and jokes that the city should “just write a check” were taken out of context.
Source: New York Post
The Seattle cop who joked about the death of a graduate student who was fatally struck by a police cruiser while crossing the street defended his callous remarks in a statement released Friday.
Officer Daniel Auderer claimed his cold-hearted laughter at 23-year-old Jaahnavi Kandula’s death and jokes that the city should “just write a check” were taken out of context during a private call he didn’t know was being recorded by his department-issued body camera.
The cop had just responded to the Jan. 23 fatal crash and was speaking with Seattle Police Officers Guild President Mike Solan to update him when he made the remarks.
“She is dead,” Auderer says before bursting out laughing. “No, it’s a regular person,” he says, referring to Kandula.
The Police Union knew immediately that they had a crisis on their hands, but instead of thinking of the victim, or her family, their first thoughts were to public relations and minimizing the fallout. On that, they've failed completely.