Justice Denied: Seattle Police Officer Won’t Face Charges for Killing Indian Graduate Student Jaahnavi Kandula
- The decision comes a little over a year after the 23-year-old was walking in the crosswalk when she was struck by Officer Kevin Dave’s cruiser while he was responding to a “priority one” call.
A Seattle police officer who killed Jaahnavi Kandula in January last year will not face criminal charges. Prosecutor Leesa Manion announced yesterday (Feb. 21) that as a result of an independent investigation, her office will not charge officer Kevin Dave, whose cruiser fatally struck the 23-year-old graduate student from India, according to a statement from her office. Kandula was a student at the Seattle campus of Northeastern University at the time.
“After a careful analysis of applicable law, the legal definitions for police on code, and relevant and applicable case law relating to vehicular homicide and vehicular assault,” her office determined “there is no evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Ofc. Dave was driving impaired and insufficient evidence of driving in a reckless manner.” She however noted, that Kandula’s death is “heartbreaking and impacted communities in King County and across the world.”
Kandula when she was walking in the crosswalk from east to west when Dave struck her while responding to a “priority one” call. According to The Seattle Times, the department defined such a call as “one that is the highest priority and involves a threat to life.”
A fire department spokesperson told the newspaper the call was for “aiding a 28-year-old man who was evaluated and later declined transport to a hospital.” According to the report, the officer did not have his siren activated continuously. Instead, the officer “chirped” his siren at the intersection. He did have his emergency lights on, according to a previous statement from the police department.
She was found suffering from life-threatening injuries at the scene, where officers performed CPR while they waited for the fire department to arrive. She was taken to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition where she later died.
Northeastern University, where Kandula was studying as a graduate student at the Seattle campus, said in January the university would award her degree posthumously and present it to her family.
The decision comes a little over a year after Kandula’s death, which sparked international condemnation after officer Daniel Auderer, who was not involved in the collision but was present at the scene, mocked and downplayed her death. He said her young life had “limited value” and that the city should “just write a check.” Auderer, who was pulled from patrol in September 2023 and reassigned to a “non-operational position,” now faces potential termination pending a disciplinary hearing scheduled for March 4.
While Manion found Auderer’s comments “deeply troubling,” she said it doesn’t change the case against Dave. “Officer Auderer’s comments were also unprofessional and served to undermine the public’s trust in the Seattle Police Department and law enforcement in general,” she said. “As egregious as oficer Auderer’s comments are, they do not change the s legal analysis into the conduct of Officer Dave.”
As regards to the speed of Dave’s cruiser during the collision, she noted that “even if prosecutors could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a uniformed police officer traveling at 74 mph in response to a legitimate emergency call in a fully marked patrol car with lights with lights and sirens was negligent, negligent driving does not meet the legal threshold for felony criminal charges under Washington State law.”
The decision sparked outrage online. Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Working President KT Rama Rao called the decision “disgraceful and absolutely unacceptable.” He demanded that the Indian envoy in Washington, D.C., “ to take up the matter with U.S. Government authorities and deliver justice to the family of young Jaahnavi Kandula.”
“US has no business preaching about human rights to India or any other country, One user wrote on X. Another wondered the “outrage” had “this happened to a U.S. citizen in India.”