A Seattle police officer has been fired a year and a half after his body camera recorded him laughing and saying a woman’s life had “limited value” after she was fatally struck by another officer’s police cruiser, authorities said.
Officer Daniel Auderer made the remarks after he responded on Jan. 23, 2023, to a scene where an officer in a marked patrol car had fatally struck 23-year-old Jaahnavi Kandula.
Auderer had been called to the scene to determine if the officer, who hit Kandula while she was in a crosswalk, was impaired, police said.
Auderer’s remarks could be heard in body camera footage that was released in September, and his comments sparked outrage.
Interim Police Chief Sue Rahr said in a department-wide email Wednesday that Auderer’s words and actions on camera had tarnished Seattle police’s reputation.
“The officer’s laughter and callous comments about the ‘limited value’ of Ms. Kandula’s life displayed a cruel mockery of the sanctity of her life,” Rahr wrote. “That is a betrayal of that sacred trust. Not only did his comments irrevocably break the public’s trust in the officer, individually, but they caused extreme damage to the public’s trust of the entire Seattle Police Department.”
In the email, Rahr further explained her decision to terminate Auderer, who she said was “well regarded,” “if not beloved,” by many officers and supervisors.
“I believe the impact of his actions is so devastating that it cannot be mitigated by his intent to keep his conversation private. The hurt his words have inflicted on Ms. Kandula’s family cannot be erased,” Rahr said. “The actions this individual police officer have brought shame on the Seattle Police Department and our entire profession, making the job of every police officer more difficult.”
Auderer could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
The Seattle Police Officers Guild could also not be reached. Auderer is the elected vice president of the guild, which represents roughly 900 rank-and-file officers. It was not clear Thursday whether he still held that post, or had any role with the union.
Following the deadly crash, Auderer inadvertently left his body camera on and was speaking on the phone with a colleague about the incident, according to a disciplinary action report related to his comments.
Auderer said that the officer whose vehicle struck Kandula was traveling 50 mph, video footage showed. The officer had been driving at 74 mph and Kandula was thrown more than 100 feet, according to a police investigation report that was referred to prosecutors for review.
“That’s not reckless for a trained driver,” Auderer said in the video, adding that he didn’t believe “she was thrown 40 feet either.”
“But she is dead,” he said and laughed.
“Yeah, just write a check,” he also said and laughed again.
“Eleven thousand dollars. She was 26 anyway,” Auderer said, misstating Kandula’s age. “She had limited value.”
Only Auderer’s voice was audible in the video.
Kandula had been pursuing a master’s degree at Northeastern University’s Seattle campus when she was killed. Her relatives couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday.
In September, the guild said Auderer’s statements were taken out of context and released a letter that he had sent to the director of the Office of Police Accountability in August, months after Kandula was killed.
“I intended the comment as a mockery of lawyers — 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,” Auderer said in the letter.
The disciplinary report, which Seattle police released Thursday to NBC News, showed the officer violated a department policy related to standards, duties and professionalism. The report noted the incident was the third time Auderer had violated that department policy.
It also mentioned that Auderer’s comments went viral and made international news.
After the “limited value” remark, Auderer apparently realized his camera was on and his hand jerked from the steering wheel to deactivate the device, the report said.
In an interview with the Office of Police Accountability, Auderer said: “You can either laugh or cry. You don’t laugh over death. You laugh at the absurdity of it,” the report said.
The officer who struck Kandula with his vehicle was headed to an overdose call, police said. Auderer determined the officer behind the wheel was not impaired while on duty, according to the disciplinary report.
Prosecutors with King County in Seattle said in February they would not file charges against the officer, citing insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was consciously disregarding safety. The officer was cited and fined $5,000 by the Seattle City Attorney’s Office for negligent driving.
