Amid the spiralling row over the Seattle police officer Daniel Auderer's insensitive remarks after the horrific death of Indian student Jaahnavi Kandula,the Seattle Police Officers' Guild defended the officer saying some viral videos of police actions shared by media were taken out of "context”.
Back in January this year, 23-year-old Kandula was struck by a speeding police vehicle driven by Officer Kevin Dave when she was crossing a street in Seattle. He was driving 74 mph (more than 119 kmh) on the way to a report of a drug overdose call.
It has been reported that Kandula was thrown 100 feet when she was struck by the speeding police patrol vehicle.
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About the incident
As per the bodycam footage released on Monday by the Seattle Police Department, Officer Daniel Auderer was heard laughing about the deadly crash and dismissing any implication Dave might be at fault or that a criminal investigation was necessary.
In the video, Auderer can be heard calling Kandula a 'regular person' and saying, "Yeah, just write a cheque. USD 11,000. She was 26 anyway, she had limited value."
Seattle Police Officers Guild defends the accused officer
"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 on Friday as 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.
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Officer Auderer claimed his joke that the city should “just write a check” was taken out of context during a private call he didn’t know was being recorded by his department-issued body camera.
In the letter dated August 3 to the Office of Police Accountability, Auderer said he laughed at the ridiculousness of how these incidents are litigated and the ridiculousness of how he has watched these incidents play out as two parties bargain over a tragedy.
"At the time I believed the conversation was private and not being recorded. The conversation was also not within the course of my duties," he wrote in his letter to Gino Betts, director Office of Police Accountability.
"On January 23, 2023, I was dispatched from home to assist with a fatality collision involving a city vehicle," he said.
"While en route home I called Mike Solan to give him an update regarding what had occurred. The phone call was inadvertently recorded on my BWV which had turned on. The conversation took place in my patrol car. I was the only occupant. During that phone call Mike Solan stated something to the effect that it was unfortunate that this would turn into lawyers arguing 'The value of human life'," he wrote.
"Mike Solan asked me as he was lamenting the loss of life something similar to: 'What crazy argument can a lawyer make in something like this? What crazy thing can they come up with.' I responded with something like: 'She's 26 years old, what value is there, who cares.' 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 minimise the payment," Auderer wrote.
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"I laughed at the ridiculousness of how these incidents are litigated and the ridiculousness of how I have watched these incidents play out as two parties bargain over a tragedy. At the time I believed the conversation was private and not being recorded. The conversation was also not within the course of my duties," he said.
"I understand that without context, the comment could be interpreted as horrifying and crude. Without context, the comment is insensitive to the family of the victim when in reality I was involved in a conversation regarding the callousness of the legal system. At the time I had no idea who the victim was," he wrote.
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The Seattle Police Officers' Guild in its statement said some viral videos of police actions shared by the media fail to explain the full story/context.
"This Seattle Police video is an example of that reality. The video captures only one side of the conversation. There is much more detail and nuance that has not been made public yet… SPOG has full confidence that the civilian-led police accountability system known as the Office of Police Accountability / OPA will conduct a thorough and fair investigation," the guild wrote.
