Seattle’s interim police chief on Monday fired the officer who fatally struck a 23-year-old graduate student from India with his patrol vehicle in January 2023 while responding to a call. The case ignited outrage and attracted widespread attention after another officer was recorded on his body-worn camera making callous remarks about the death of Jaahnavi Kandula.
In an email to members of the department obtained by NBC News, interim Police Chief Sue Rahr said Monday that she had decided to fire Kevin Dave after the Seattle Office of Police Accountability concluded that he had violated four department policies, including one that requires the safe operation of police vehicles.
Dave had been driving 74 mph in a 25 mph zone on his way to a call about an overdose, according to a police investigation report.
“I believe the officer did not intend to hurt anyone that night and that he was trying to get to a possible overdose victim as quickly as possible,” Rahr wrote. “However, I cannot accept the tragic consequences of his dangerous driving. His positive intent does not mitigate the poor decision that caused the loss of a human life and brought discredit to the Seattle Police Department.”
Dave had been with the department for four years. He could not immediately be reached Tuesday at phone numbers and email addresses listed for him or through his LinkedIn account.
The Seattle Police Officers Guild, a police union, could not immediately be reached by phone and a request sent through its website did not immediately receive a response.
The King County Prosecutor’s Office reviewed the case last year and announced in February that it would not file felony charges against Dave, saying there was insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he “was consciously disregarding safety” when he fatally struck Kandula in a crosswalk Jan. 23, 2023.
The prosecutor’s office said then that Dave had on his emergency lights and that other pedestrians reported hearing his siren. It also said that Kandula appeared to try to run across the intersection after seeing his vehicle approaching and that she might also have been wearing wireless earbuds that could have diminished her hearing.
Dave was fined $5,000 by the city for negligent driving.
Kandula’s death gained international attention after a recording from then-officer Daniel Auderer’s body-worn camera was released in September 2023. Auderer can be heard laughing in the video, and suggests that Kandula’s life had “limited value” and the city should “just write a check.” Auderer had been dispatched to determine whether Dave was impaired when he hit Kandula, throwing her more than 100 feet.
Local protesters had demanded justice for Kandula as diplomats from India also sought an investigation. Kandula, who was born in India, was a graduate student at Northeastern University’s Seattle campus.
The police department has said it learned of the conversation from a concerned employee who listened to it “in the routine course of business.” That employee took concerns through the chain of command and after reviewing the video, the chief’s office referred it to the Office of Police Accountability for investigation, as department policy and the city’s accountability ordinance require.
Auderer inadvertently left his body camera on while he was on a call with the guild president. Auderer and the guild, of which he was vice president at the time, said his comments had been taken out of context. In a letter he wrote to the director of the Office of Police Accountability more than six months after Kandula was killed and after being told of the video’s existence, Auderer said he was imitating what a lawyer tasked with negotiating the case would have said “and being sarcastic to express that they shouldn’t be coming up with crazy arguments to minimize the payment.”
Rahr fired Auderer in July. In a departmentwide email, she said that Auderer’s words and actions on camera had tarnished Seattle police’s reputation.
In that email, Rahr also said Auderer 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 of “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,” she said.
Rahr acknowledged that her decision to fire Dave might be met with displeasure.
“I understand and accept that many will not agree with this decision,” she wrote in the departmentwide email sent Monday. “This case is tragic on every level and will have lifelong implications for everyone involved. It is my hope that this heartbreaking situation will be an enduring reminder that officers responding to emergencies: Do not lose sight of the danger that is created by excessive speed when responding to emergency calls.”