Seattle Police Officer Caught on Tape Making Light of Woman's Death in Police Car Accident

An investigation has been launched into a bodycam footage that seems to show a Seattle police officer laughing about a woman who was fatally struck by a patrol car. Officer Daniel Auderer was responding to an incident where 23-year-old Jaahnavi Kandula was killed near her university. In the video, the officer can be heard suggesting that the victim's life had "limited value" and that the city should simply pay a settlement. The officer claims that his comments were taken out of context. Kandula, a graduate student at Northeastern University, was hit and killed by a police car while crossing the street on January 23. According to a police investigation report cited by The Seattle Times, the officer driving the car was traveling at a speed of 74mph (119km/h), and the victim's body was thrown more than 100ft (30m). Officer Auderer's body camera recorded audio from a call he made to a colleague during the incident. In the audio, he can be heard saying, "But she is dead," before laughing. He then says, "No, it's a regular person. Yeah, just write a cheque," and laughs again. Auderer, who is a Seattle Police Department union leader, was speaking with Mike Solan, the president of the guild, but Solan's audio is not audible in the recording. The Seattle Police Department has released a statement stating that the conversation was discovered by an employee who heard it "in the routine course of business." This employee expressed concerns about the nature of the statements, which were then escalated to higher authorities. The matter has been handed over to the Office of Police Accountability, the agency responsible for investigating police misconduct. The agency is examining the context in which the statements were made and whether any policies were violated. A conservative talk radio host, Jason Rantz, claims to have obtained a written statement from Auderer in which he says his comments were intended to mimic how city attorneys might try to downplay liability for the woman's death. The Seattle Community Police Commission, another oversight agency, described the bodycam footage as "heartbreaking and shockingly insensitive." Various community leaders have expressed their shock and dismay at the officer's behavior. The King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office is conducting a criminal review of the crash.