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The Seattle Police Officers Guild on Friday said the video of police officer Daniel Auderer joking about Indian-origin woman, Jaahnavi Kandulas death, captures only one side of the conversation and there is much more detail and nuance that has not been made public yet.
The Seattle Police said the video fails to explain the full story/context. Some viral videos of police actions shared by 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 read an official statement by the Seattle Police Officers Guild. The SPOG said it 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 into the incident. The police said it understands the attention and outrage surrounding the viral video which captures highly insensitive comments regarding the death of Jaahnavi Kandula by Officer Daniel Auderer. Without context, this audio is horrifying and has no place in a civil society. It sullens the profession of law enforcement, the reputation of all Seattle Police officers and paints Seattle in a terrible light. We feel deep sorrow and grief for the family of Jaahnavi Kandula as this video has revictimized them in an already tragic situation as they continue to mourn her death. We are truly sorry, the police said through the official statement. On Monday, the Seattle Police Department released footage from accused officer Daniel Auderer's body camera. Auderer left his body camera on after responding to the South Lake Union area where a marked patrol vehicle driven by another officer Kevin Dave struck and killed Indian-origin woman Jaahnavi Kandula, according to an NBC News report. In the footage Auderer, who serves as vice president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, is driving and can be heard talking about the accident that involved 23-year-old graduate student Kandula in a call with the guild's president Mike Solan. In the video, Auderer can be heard saying "she is dead" before bursting out into laughter. Referring to Kandula, Auderer said, "No, its a regular person." Towards the end of the clip, he can be heard saying, through bursts of laughter, "Yeah, just write a check. Eleven thousand dollars. She was 26 anyway," misstating the age of the victim. He further said, "She had limited value," New York Post reported. Auderer said that he did not believe a criminal investigation was being carried out. He said, "I mean, he was going 50 mph. Thats not out of control. Thats not reckless for a trained driver." However, a report released in June revealed that Dave was driving 74 mph in a 25-mph zone while responding to a different high-priority call, NBC News reported citing KIRO 7. The Seattle Police Officers Guild said it wants the community to know the actions that Daniel took to hold himself accountable. Upon being made aware of the existence of this video, Daniel immediately took ownership of his actions and authored a statement requesting that the Director of OPA (Gino Betts) consider the course of Rapid Adjudication. Rapid Adjudication is a disciplinary process that was agreed to by the City of Seattle and the SPOG to expedite police employee misconduct investigations so accountability can be swiftly addressed, and reasonable discipline imposed. This was done by Daniel more than 4 weeks before the release of the video. The Seattle Police said: There is no doubt that any loss of life is tragic. We as police officers swear an oath of service that mandates that we do our best to protect and preserve life at all costs, even if we were to lose our own lives in the performance of our duties. The police said: With that understood, we also know that in our service to others, tragedy can strike at any moment. This was unfortunately the case in the tragic death of Jaahnavi Kandula. (ANI)
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