Seattle police officer recorded joking after woman killed in fatal crash
A Seattle police officer is under investigation after being recorded joking about a woman hit and killed by a police car.
Jaahnavi Kandula, 23, died after being struck by a vehicle, driven by officer Kevin Dave, as she was crossing a road in January.
After responding to the incident, officer Daniel Auderer was recorded on bodycam footage describing details of the incident, saying that the student’s life had “limited value”.
“He was going 50mph, that’s not reckless for a trained driver,” Mr Auderer, a Seattle police department union leader said, appearing to address the speed of the police car which hit Ms Kandula.
According to The Seattle Times, the officer driving the car was going at 74mph while on the way to respond to an overdose call. The impact meant Ms Kandula was thrown more than 30m (100ft).
Jaahnavi Kandula was 23 years old. Pic: AP
“But she is dead,” Mr Auderer told Mike Solan, president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, before he lets out a prolonged laugh.
“It’s a regular person,” the officer joked.
“Just write a cheque. She was 26 anyway. She had limited value.”
Police said they have handed the matter over to the Office of Police Accountability, which is looking into “the context in which” the statements were made and whether any policies had been violated.
Mr Auderer also reported himself after realising his comments had been recorded.
The audio recording was called “heartbreaking and shockingly insensitive” by the Community Police Commission.
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In a written statement, reportedly obtained by KTTH-AM radio host, Jason Rantz, Mr Auderer said that his comments were not made with “malice or a hard heart” but were intended to mimic how lawyers might try to minimise liability for the incident.
“I laughed at the ridiculousness of how these incidents are litigated, and the ridiculousness of how I watched these incidents play out as two parties bargain over a tragedy,” he wrote, according to KTTH-AM.
He acknowledged that anyone listening to his side of the conversation alone “would rightfully believe I was being insensitive to the loss of human life”.
Ms Kandula’s family told The Seattle Times “a life is a life” and wondered if “these men’s daughters and granddaughters have value”.
Charlie Kirk has been posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Donald Trump.
The USA’s highest civilian honour was received by the conservative activist’s widow, Erika, at the White House.
Mr Kirk, 31, was fatally shot on 10 September while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University.
He founded Turning Point USA and toured American university campuses, debating students about current affairs.
Erika Kirk at the White House. Pic: Reuters
Erika Kirk and Donald Trump. Pic: Reuters
Addressing those attending the ceremony in the White House rose garden, the US president said they were there to “honour and remember a fearless warrior for liberty” and a “beloved leader who galvanised the next generation”.
He said Mr Kirk’s name was being entered “forever into the eternal roster of true American heroes”.
Mr Trump described Charlie Kirk as an “American patriot of the deepest conviction, the finest quality and the highest calibre”.
He said his nation had been “robbed” of an “extraordinary champion”.
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Has Charlie Kirk become a MAGA ‘martyr’?
And Mr Trump said Mr Kirk was assassinated in the “prime of his life for boldly speaking the truth, for living his faith, and relentlessly fighting for a better and stronger America”.
The ceremony coincided with what would have been Mr Kirk’s 32nd birthday.
Mr Trump described Erika Kirk, now head of Turning Point USA, as someone who had “endured unspeakable hardship with unbelievable strength”.
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Charlie Kirk. File pic: AP
A 22-year-old man, Tyler Robinson, from the city of Washington in Utah has been charged with Mr Kirk’s murder. Prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty.
At a memorial event held at a stadium in Arizona, Erika Kirk told an enormous crowd she forgave her husband’s killer.
“The answer to hate is not hate,” she said.
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