SEATTLE — The Seattle police officer who was heard joking and making insensitive comments about 23-year-old Jaahnavi Kandula's death in January of 2023 could be fired.
Officer Daniel Auderer's chain of command and the Office of Police Accountability (OPA) found he acted unprofessionally. For that he faces the highest disciplinary range of nearly two weeks suspension up to termination, according to a disciplinary action report.
OPA also found that Auderer engaged in bias-based policing due to a comment he made about Kandula's age. The chain of command disagreed with that finding.
Prior to a final disciplinary decision, Auderer will have the chance to meet with Diaz to disagree.
A disciplinary hearing is scheduled for Monday, March 4 at noon.
"In this case, you so egregiously undermined your colleagues, the Department, the law enforcement profession, and the public trust and legitimacy we are working so hard to reclaim, that serious discipline, up to and including termination, is warranted," the disciplinary action report states.
On Jan. 23, Auderer was dispatched to assist with a collision after another officer, on his way to an emergency, struck and killed Kandula while she was in a crosswalk in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood.
In the body camera footage, Auderer, who was not involved in the January collision, was captured in the video saying, "but she is dead" and laughing while on the phone.
"She was 26 anyway," Auderer said in the video. "She had limited value."
An employee with the Seattle Police Department alerted OPA to the video.
After the bodycam video was brought to light, Auderer wrote a letter to OPA where he explained he was not making fun of the death but instead mocking the callousness of the legal system.
Auderer was previously "administratively re-assigned to a non-operational position."
The Consulate General of India in San Francisco called the handling of Kandula's death "deeply troubling."
Seattle City Councilmember Tammy Morales requested Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz take action against Auderer for his comments.
Retired King County Sheriff John Urquhart expressed strong distaste for the officer's comments on a scale that goes beyond Seattle.
“It’s horrendous. It’s horrendous for the Seattle Police Department, for the deputy’s career, for the profession, not just in Seattle but nationwide," Urquhart said at the time. “The chief needs to look into this guy’s heart. What really is going on there. And that could affect what decision he makes, as well.”
Northeastern University, where Kandula was studying as a graduate student at the Seattle campus, said on Thursday that the university will award her degree posthumously and present it to her family.
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