Seattle cop who laughed at woman’s death reassigned to ‘non-operational’ post
By Carl Samson
September 29, 2023
The Seattle police officer who made national and global headlines for making callous remarks about the death of an Indian woman has been reassigned to a “non-operational” position, according to his department.
Driving the news: Officer Daniel Auderer, vice president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) — the largest police labor union in the Northwest — is currently the subject of an oversight investigation after bodycam footage recorded him laughing and making insensitive comments while responding to the death of 23-year-old Jaahnavi Kandula. Another officer, Kevin Dave, fatally struck the Indian graduate student while allegedly responding to a “high-priority” call on Jan. 23.
In the footage, Auderer can be heard laughing and calling Kandula a “regular person” with “limited value.” The officer also suggested to “just write a check” and stated an amount of $11,000.
What he’s saying: Auderer has reportedly claimed that his comments intended to mock lawyers negotiating the case. “I was imitating what a lawyer tasked with negotiating the case would be saying and being sarcastic to express that they shouldn’t be coming up with crazy arguments to minimize the payment,” he wrote to the Office of Police Accountability (OPA), the city agency investigating him, according to KTTH.
Reassignment: As the probe into Auderer’s comments continues, the SPD said the officer was “administratively reassigned to a non-operational position,” The Seattle Times reported on Thursday. It is unclear when exactly he was removed from the streets, but a police watchdog group had called for his suspension without pay last week.
What’s next: Aside from Auderer’s case, the OPA is investigating Officer Dave for the original incident. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office is also considering charges against Dave.
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