Officer Kevin Dave hit and killed Kandula with his police cruiser while the 23-year-old student was crossing the street in a marked crosswalk on Jan. 23, 2023.
Dave was driving 74 miles an hour without continuously running his siren while responding to a drug overdose call, on a street with a speed limit of 25 miles an hour.
Months later, footage was released of Seattle Police Officers Guild Vice President Daniel Auderer joking about Kandula’s death over the phone with SPOG President Mike Solan.
In that recording, Auderer can be heard laughing as he referred to Kandula as “a regular person,” going on to say, “Just write a check – $11,000, she was 26 anyway, she had limited value.”
holy shit, that’s awful. I fully expect protests tonight in Seattle, and they will be damned justified
They went for vehicular homicide on a cop going too fast with lights and sirens on when they ran out into the street.
They may try for a lesser charge now, but if they really wanted a case with a guilty verdict they never should have gone for vehicular homicide to begin with. Too intentional of a charge for what happened. Last article I had read did say that a lesser charge could still be pursued, though.
The article you’re responding to specifically states he didn’t have sirens on
This article says that he wasn’t continuously running his siren. One of the other articles posting about this story said that witnesses in the area said they could hear sirens and that the victim was running.
Not claiming any truth or anything else. That info could all be false and I’d still make the same claim. Going for vehicular homicide against an on duty cop responding to a call, even when he was being a dumbass, just isn’t going to get a guilty verdict for homicide.
He “chirped” his siren when going through the intersection. That’s not the same as going lights and sirens.
Dude, they said she had little value. The guy could be axe murdering her in the street and the SPD would have his back.
Mildly?!?!?
This isn’t mildly infuriating (and hence shouldn’t be here but whatever). This is fuel for completely justified rage.
For there to be felony charges, prosecutors say they would have to prove that Officer Dave was consciously disregarding safety. They did have enough evidence to prove that in this case.
In what world is it not a conscious disregard for safety to go 74 mph in a 25 mph zone? Is he not aware of his speed while he’s driving? Was he not aware of the speed limit? Was he not aware cars kill people, or how crosswalks work, or that there could be pedestrians around?
I understand he was trying to save someone’s life also, but someone who gets tunnel vision like that in an emergency shouldn’t be in the business of saving people’s lives.
You have to be present. You absolutely have to be paying attention to right here, right now when you’re driving, no matter how important the destination is.
This is so sad. I hope she didn’t suffer much.
Honestly, I’m surprised that there isn’t any vigilante justice in these situations. Goes to show who the civilized group is.
ACAB
Generalizations are so lazy.
Would you call an ambulance attendant a bastard?
My sister in law moonlights as volunteer fire and volunteer ambulance when she’s not working as a cop. I think she’s awesome and I’ve known her 30 years, but I’m interested to know what you think given she’s Fire, Ambulance, and cop.
I think that being a cop offsets her volunteer work. Until the entire profession is reformed, then ACAB, including your SIL. I’m sure she’s a fine person, but as long as she’s a member of the police gang, she’s one of them.
