Police officer laughs about woman struck and killed by patrol car in shocking bodycam video

Shocking body cam footage shows a police officer laughing about a woman who was struck and killed by a patrol car in Seattle.

Jaahnavi Kandula, 23, was killed in January on a crosswalk near her university campus after she was struck by a patrol car while police were responding to an overdose in the South Lake Union neighborhood.

Seattle Police said the officer driving the patrol vehicle was responding to a priority-one call when the incident happened. The officer was going 74mph in a 25mph speed zone.

Police ruled the incident was an accident, and returned the unnamed officer to duty shortly after.

Authorities are now investigating bodycam footage released by Seattle Police on Monday from the incident which shows officer Daniel Auderer — who is also the vice president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild — insulting and laughing about the 23-year-old student.

In the footage, Mr Auderer can be heard saying: “There is initially – he said she was in a crosswalk, there is a witness that said, ‘No she wasn’t,’ but that could be different, because I don’t think she was thrown 40 feet, either.”

Mr Auderer can then be heard saying: “She is dead,” before laughing.

He continues: “No, it’s a regular person – yeah, yeah, just write a check, just, yeah,” before laughing again.

“$11,000. She was 26 anyway, she had limited value,” he says.

In a statement, the Seattle Police Department said: “The following video was identified in the routine course of business by a department employee, who, concerned about the nature of statements heard on that video, appropriately escalated their concerns through their chain of command to the Chief’s Office which, following a review of the video, referred the matter to OPA for investigation into the context in which those statements were made and any policy violation that might be implicated.

“This is what department policy and the City’s Accountability Ordinance require.”

The statement continued: “While any incident of public concern is under OPA, SPD or OIG review, 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 Office of Police Accountability is investigating.

Ms Kandula was a student at Northeastern University, studying for a master’s degree in information systems.