Eight months after an Indian student was run over and killed by a police patrol vehicle in the United States, a video has emerged which shows a police officer mocking her death. Twenty-three-year-old Jaahnavi Kandula, who was a native of Andhra Pradesh, was run over by a speeding Seattle police patrol vehicle on January 23 this year, while she was crossing a road. India has asked for an investigation into the incident.
In a body camera video which was released on Monday, September 11, a police official named Daniel Auderer can be heard talking to the Seattle Police Officers’ Guild (SPOG) president Mike Solan about the accident which killed Jaahnavi, who was a student of the Northeastern University’s Seattle campus. During the conversation, Daniel can be heard saying, “she is dead” before erupting into laughter a few seconds later. He goes on to refer to the Indian student as just “a regular person”.
And as he continued laughing, Daniel said, “Yeah, just write a cheque. Eleven thousand dollars”. He also goes on to say, “She was 26 anyway, she had limited value”.
As per reports, on the day of the accident, Daniel was assigned to investigate whether Kevin Dave, the driver of the police vehicle which killed Jaahnavi, was under the influence of drugs.
The footage of the conversation has sparked outrage among the Indian community across the globe, from ministers to citizens demanding that action be taken against Daniel.
“Recent reports including in the media of the handling of Ms Jaahnavi Kandula’s death in a road accident in Seattle in January are deeply troubling. We have taken up the matter strongly with local authorities in Seattle & Washington State as well as senior officials in Washington DC for a thorough investigation & action against those involved in this tragic case.,” the Consulate General of India in San Francisco said, on September 13.
Stating that he is “Deeply disturbed & extremely saddened by the utterly reprehensible and callous comments of a police officer of the SPD,” Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao requested the US Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti to take up the matter with US Government authorities and deliver justice to the family of young Jaahnavi Kandula.
Vijayasai Reddy, Rajya Sabha MP and YSRCP leader said that the “shameful comments” made by the Seattle police officer is “appalling”. “Calling her a ‘regular person’ with ‘limited value’ is crass and insensitive. I strongly urge EAM @DrSJaishankar ji to raise this issue with the US govt. for strict action,” he said.