Mike Carter A Seattle police watchdog agency is investigating rank-and-file union leaders over body-camera audio in which they laugh, joke about and downplay the death of a young woman struck by a...
Mike Carter
A Seattle police watchdog agency is investigating rank-and-file union leaders over body-camera audio in which they laugh, joke about and downplay the death of a young woman struck by a police cruiser, suggesting her life had “limited value” and that the city should “just write a check.”
Officer Daniel Auderer, vice president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, inadvertently left his body camera running after responding Jan. 23 to South Lake Union, where another officer, Kevin Dave, struck and killed Jaahnavi Kandula while driving 74 mph on the way to a report of an overdose.
Auderer, a drug-recognition officer assigned to determine whether Dave was under the influence, concluded his colleague was not impaired. After finishing his routine analysis, he called SPOG President Mike Solan, and the pair talked for two minutes.
Only Auderer’s side of the conversation is audible in the body-camera footage released Monday. In the conversation, he laughs about the deadly crash and dismisses any implication the officer might be at fault or that a criminal investigation was necessary.
He also laughed several times, saying at one point: “Yeah, just write a check.”
“Eleven thousand dollars. She was 26 anyway,” Auderer said, misstating the victim’s age. “She had limited value.”
Kandula, who had been in a crosswalk at Thomas Street and Dexter Avenue North, was thrown over 100 feet. The 23-year-old died later that night.
Chief Adrian Diaz, in a statement posted Monday, said the department learned of the conversation not from Auderer, but from an employee who listened to it “during the routine course of business.” That employee became concerned and took it up the chain of command.
Auderer acknowledged, according to KTTH, that anyone listening to the body-camera recording “would rightfully believe I was being insensitive to the loss of human life.”
He reported the comment “was not made with malice or a hard heart.”
The Seattle Times and other media learned of the recording and sought to obtain it through public disclosure requests.
Mike Carter
A Seattle police watchdog agency is investigating rank-and-file union leaders over body-camera audio in which they laugh, joke about and downplay the death of a young woman struck by a police cruiser, suggesting her life had “limited value” and that the city should “just write a check.”
Only Auderer’s side of the conversation is audible in the body-camera footage released Monday. In the conversation, he laughs about the deadly crash and dismisses any implication the officer might be at fault or that a criminal investigation was necessary.
Kandula, who had been in a crosswalk at Thomas Street and Dexter Avenue North, was thrown over 100 feet. The 23-year-old died later that night.
The Seattle Times and other media learned of the recording and sought to obtain it through public disclosure requests.