US cop, who joked about Indian student's death, taken off patrol duty

The Seattle Police Officer, who was under fire for laughing and making insensitive comments over the death of an Indian-origin student Jaahnavi Kandula, has been taken off patrol duty, said the police.

In a statement on Thursday (Sept 28), the Seattle Police Department said that traffic officer Daniel Auderer “has been administratively reassigned to a non-operational position,” reported The Seattle Times.

Auderer, who was a member of the SPD’s traffic squad and vice president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, has been under probe after a recording from his body camera was released that showed him laughing and joking during a phone call with union president Mike Solan.

The phone call happened after another officer, Kevin Dave, in his police SUV hit and killed 23-year-old Kandula as she was crossing a street on Jan 23.

Dave was driving at a speed of nearly 120 kmph and his vehicle threw Kandula more than 100 feet away after the deadly collision. She was rushed to Harbourview Medical Centre but later succumbed to her critical injuries.

As per The Seattle Times, Auderer was assigned to determine whether Officer Dave was under the influence.

Auderer conducted a routine analysis of whether Dave was under the influence and then called Mike Solan, the president of the police union. The video reportedly shows Auderer’s side of the conversation and he can be heard laughing at the accident that caused Kandula’s death.

He underplayed the crash, wrongly saying Dave was driving 50 mph at the time.

In the video, which went viral on social media, Seattle Police Officers’ Guild Vice President Daniel Auderer can be heard saying, “She is dead” before bursting out into laughter and referring to Kandula as “a regular person”.

Towards the end, the officer says, “She was 26 anyway, she had limited value”, getting her age wrong.

Comments taken out of context, says Auderer

Earlier this month, the Seattle Police Officers’ Guild defended the official saying that some of the videos of police that were shared, did not fairly elucidate the context of the story and that the recorded conversation was taken out of context.

“The video captures only one side of the conversation. There is much more detail and nuance that has not been made public yet,” the Seattle Police Officers Guild said in a statement.

It also released a letter written by its officer Auderer in which the latter said that he intended the comment as a mockery of lawyers.

(With inputs from agencies)