Two Seattle Police officers are being probed following a leaked recording of them laughing at a dead woman of color. That woman was actually fatally struck by a police cruiser and the cackling cops said she had “limited value.” These cops aren’t helping fight those ACAB claims, I fear.
Back in January, Officer Daniel Auderer was responding to South Lake Union where his colleague had just hit 23-year-old graduate student Jaahnavi Kandula, per The Seattle Times. Officer Kevin Dave was going 74 mph on his way to a call reporting an overdose when he struck Kandula in the crosswalk, throwing her over 100 feet. She died later that night.
The report says Auderer was assigned to determine whether his colleague was under the influence at the time of the accident. After finding Officer Dave was sober, Auderer called up the president of the Seattle Police Officer’s Guild to chat but neglected to turn off his body camera. The audio captured a slew of nasty comments about the accident.
Auderer turned himself into the Office of Police Accountability (OPA) after he realized he said too damn much.
Read more from 770KTTH:
According to the complaint, Auderer responded in a way intended to mock city lawyers.
“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 minimize the payment,” Auderer said. “I laughed at the ridiculousness of how these incidents are litigated and the ridiculousness of how I watched these incidents play out as two parties bargain over a tragedy.”
According to another document to OPA, the quote also included the following: “Yeah, just write a check… $11,000. She was 26 anyways. She had limited value.” The comment was reportedly a continuation of his mockery of lawyers and a city that would try to pay less than it should.
His conversation about the body cam recording was heard by an employee who reported him and resulted in the current watchdog agency’s investigation. It’s unclear where the probe stands for the SPOG president who laughed with Officer Auderer.
But wait… wasn’t it also in Seattle where a cop’s body camera exposed a bunch of officers for the disgraceful decor inside their station? Yeah, the SPD’s East Precinct was decorated with Trump flags and a mock tombstone of a Black man who was fatally shot by the officers.
These incidents just make you wonder how officers really feel about their job and the people they’re supposed to serve. Without the body cam leaks, we wouldn’t know.