Indian Student Jaahnavi Kandula Killed by US Police Vehicle

A police car hit and killed Jaahnavi Kandula while she was crossing the street in Seattle on January23 this year.

The US assures a fair probe into the viral video showing Officer Daniel Auderer joking about Indian student Jaahnavi Kandula’s death in a Seattle police car incident. The Indian Consulate in San Francisco expressed concerns about the case. Officer Auderer laughed about the crash and dismissed the need for a criminal investigation involving his colleague Kevin Dave. The incident involved Jaahnavi Kandula’s collision with a speeding police car.

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Who was Jaahnavi Kandula?

The 23-year-old was from Andhra Pradesh and pursuing a master’s degree from the Northeastern University campus in South Lake Union. She went to the US from Bengaluru on a student exchange programme in-2021 and was due to graduate this December.

Ms Kandula’s family is deeply distressed by the revelations. Her grandfather told NDTV that the family had not recovered from loss and the policeman’s behaviour makes it worse. “How can anyone speak like that after a tragic accident?” he asked.

On January 23, a police car, driven by Officer Kevin Dave at a speed of 119 km/h, struck and killed Ms. Kandula as she was crossing the street. The force of the impact launched the graduate student’s body more than 100 feet, and despite immediate transport to Harborview Medical Centre, her injuries proved fatal.

As reported by The Seattle Times, Officer Auderer, called to the scene, responded by making a call to a colleague, during which his body camera recorded audio.

“But she is dead,” the officer is heard saying before laughing. “No, it’s a regular person. Yeah, just write a cheque,” he says, before laughing again.

“Eleven thousand dollars. She was 26, anyway. She had limited value.”

After the Seattle Police Department released the footage on Monday, it led to outrage on social media. “Sue the Police department…that’s how they will learn to respect dead,” one user said on X (formerly Twitter).

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Another person stated, “If this had happened to an American citizen on Indian soil, the USA would have demanded significant action from the Indian government! Those policemen should face imprisonment or have their licenses permanently revoked.”

Officer Auderer stated that people had misunderstood and taken his comments out of context in response to the outrage. Radio host Jason Rantz claimed that he possessed a written statement from the police officer. In it, Auderer detailed that he intended his comments to imitate how city attorneys might attempt to mitigate liability in the woman’s death.