She had limited value: Seattle cop jokes about Indian student killed by speeding patrol car

A Seattle police officer is being investigated over newly-released bodycam footage which shows him joking on a call about an Indian student who was hit and killed by a patrol car driven by a fellow cop.

Jaahnavi Kandula, a 23-year-old who was studying at Northeastern University in South Lake Union, was killed in January this year when walking near Dexter Avenue North and Thomas Street. She was hit by a patrol car driven by one Kevin Dave.

The video in question shows Seattle Police Officers’ Guild Vice President Daniel Auderer driving and saying "she had limited value" when talking to Mike Solan, the guild President, as per KIRO 7 news.

Soon after saying she was dead, the officer can be heard laughing and adding "It's a regular person". He continues, "Just write a check -- $11,000, she was 26 anyway".

The cavalier cop also added that the policeman involved in the accident was driving at 50 miles per hour, saying 'that’s not out of control' for a trained driver.

A police investigation into the accident in June had found the officer was driving at 74 miles an hour in a 25-mile-an-hour zone while responding to another call, when he got into the accident.

The Seattle Police Department, in a statement released on Monday, said the call "was identified in the routine course of business by a department employee" who escalated it to the Office of Police Accountability (OPA) for a review. The police department added that the video was released in the interest of transparency but the department as a whole would not comment on the same until the OPA investigation was over.

"No City employee should comment, either in their official or personal capacity, in a way that suggests that any factual, policy, or legal conclusions have been reached about the incident", the statement said, adding, "SPD has been in touch with the family of the victim pedestrian and continues to honor their expressed request for privacy. As others in the accountability system proceed with their work, we again extend our deepest sympathy for this tragic collision".

Kandula had travelled to the US in 2021 from Andhra Pradesh. Her uncle, who lives in Texas, told the Seattle Times, "The family has nothing to say... Except I wonder if these men’s daughters or granddaughters have value. A life is a life."

(With IANS inputs)