Seattle police officer heard on bodycam joking after grad student was fatally hit by cop cruiser is reassigned

The Seattle police officer and union leader under investigation for laughing and making callous remarks after another officer’s patrol vehicle fatally struck Jaahnavi Kandula, a 23-year-old graduate student, in January has been taken off patrol duty, weeks after body camera footage of his comments was released.

The Seattle Police Department said Thursday that Officer Daniel Auderer, vice president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, has been “administratively re-assigned to a non-operational position.” The department did not say when the change was initiated.

On Sept. 11, the police department released footage from Auderer’s body camera that captured him making insensitive remarks about Kandula, who was struck and killed by another officer’s patrol vehicle Jan. 23. Auderer called Kandula, who had been in a crosswalk when she was hit, a “regular person” and appeared to joke about the value of her life.

Auderer had been dispatched to determine whether Kevin Dave was impaired when he hit Kandula, throwing her more than 100 feet. Dave had been driving 74 mph in a 25 mph zone on his way to a “priority one call” at the time, police said. The police department did not immediately return a request for comment on the status of Dave’s employment.

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