Daniel Auderer, a Seattle police officer, is currently being investigated for laughing when a fellow officer’s coworker tragically killed a 23-year-old Indian graduate student.

The Seattle Police Department (SPD) released a video recording of Officer Daniel Auderer acting inappropriately in relation to the death of an Indian student on September 12. On January 23, 2023, the student unfortunately died after being hit by another SPD officer as they were crossing the street.

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Who is Daniel Auderer?

Daniel Auderer is the vice president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild. He came under severe scrutiny for laughing at the death of 23-year-old Indian graduate student, Jaahnavi Kandula. 

On January 23, 2023, Kandula, a graduate student from Andhra Pradesh who was enrolled in Northeastern University’s College of Engineering, tragically died. She was lawfully crossing the street when SPD officer Kevin Dave struck her, causing a collision at 74 mph that sent her falling 138 feet from the intersection of Dexter Avenue and Thomas Street.

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Officer Auderer can be heard sneeringly saying in the video, “50 miles an hour… isn’t out of control,” in reference to the distance Kandula was flung. He sneered, “It’s just an average person,” he continued callously. On the basis of Kandula’s age, he then callously proposed that a settlement of $11,000 would be sufficient.

Jason Rantz, a conservative talk radio presenter from KTTH-AM, has acknowledged that he spoke with Auderer and that Auderer gave a written statement to the city’s Office of Police Accountability. Auderer added that Solan had expressed regret for the sad incident in this statement. Auderer said that his comments were intended to mimic how the city’s lawyers may try to minimize responsibility for the tragedy.

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According to Auderer, who stated, “I intended the comment as a mockery of lawyers. I laughed at the ridiculousness of how these incidents are litigated and at the ridiculousness of how I watched these incidents play out as two parties bargain over a tragedy.”