The Seattle Police Officers’ Guild has defended the callous remarks of its official, who was found making insensitive comments after the horrific death of Indian student Jaahnavi Kandula, saying some viral videos of police actions shared by media were taken out of context.
Kandula, 23, was struck by a police vehicle driven by Officer Kevin Dave when she was crossing a street in Seattle on January 23.
He was driving 74 mph (more than 119 kmh) on the way to a report of a drug overdose call. Kandula was thrown 100 feet when she was struck by the speeding police patrol vehicle.
In bodycam footage released on Monday by the Seattle Police Department, Officer Daniel Auderer laughed about the deadly crash and dismissed any implication Dave might be at fault or that a criminal investigation was necessary.
In the video, Auderer can be heard saying, “Yeah, just write a cheque. USD 11,000. She was 26 anyway, she had limited value.”