SEATTLE — Seattle interim police Chief Sue Rahr has fired an officer and union leader who made comments, described as “vile” and callous, downplaying the death of a young woman killed by another officer speeding through a crosswalk.
Following a recommendation by the department’s watchdog and the department brass, Rahr notified Officer Daniel Auderer on Wednesday that he has been terminated for the comments he made in the hours after the January 2023 death of Jaahnavi Kandula.
“The actions of this individual police officer have brought shame on the Seattle Police Department and our entire profession, making the job of every police officer more difficult,” she wrote in a departmentwide email sent Wednesday afternoon. “It is my duty as the leader of this organization to uphold the high standards necessary to maintain public trust. For me to allow the officer to remain on our force would only bring further dishonor to the entire department. For that reason, I am going to terminate his employment.”
Her decision complied with the recommendation of Gino Betts Jr., the civilian director of the Office of Police Accountability, who said Auderer should be terminated for unprofessional conduct and showing bias in recorded statements.
Mayor Bruce Harrell, in a statement issued Wednesday afternoon, said he supported Rahr’s decision, even though city officials and the chief recognize it will likely be appealed, lead to arbitration and potentially affect the department’s efforts to end 12 years under federal oversight that has narrowed its focus to officer accountability.
“This incident damaged the public trust we have been working to strengthen since Day One of my administration,” Harrell said. “Effective policing requires public trust. It cannot be effective if the people being served have doubts about our officers’ motivations, conduct, or character.”
Joel Merkel, co-chair of the Community Police Commission and an assistant state attorney general, said Rahr “made the right call.”
“A community member’s tragic death is never a laughing matter,” he said. “There is no room in our community or policing anywhere for officers who have the capacity to conduct themselves the way Auderer did.
“Our hearts are with Ms. Kandula’s family and we hope this helps them heal,” he said.
Lisa Judge, the director of the city’s Office of Inspector General, said she appreciates patience with the process. The OPA opened its investigation last September. “But it shows we have a system that holds officers accountable,” she said.
Auderer is the elected vice president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, which represents roughly 900 rank-and-file officers. An email sent to the guild’s headquarters seeking comment was not immediately returned.
In a six-page Disciplinary Action Report laying out the reasons for her decision, Rahr said she sympathized with Auderer, who in his presentation at the disciplinary hearing said he was “born to be a Seattle police officer.”
The chief noted Auderer acknowledged that “trust is gained in drips and lost in buckets: I’ve dumped my bucket over,” but asked for a chance to refill it, according to the chief’s report.
“You acknowledged that your words were hurtful, and said you are ‘horrified’ to know what they meant to the young woman’s family, and you wished you could bear their pain. You closed with a heartfelt apology,” the chief wrote.
As she considered this, however, she concluded that “your cruel and callous laughter” and the pain inflicted on Kandula’s family could not be outweighed by Auderer’s good reputation among his fellow officers and his years of service to the community. Auderer has been an officer since 2009. Rahr said she has received a number of letters of support for Auderer from his fellow SPD officers.
Auderer argued that the conversation he had with union President Mike Solan after Kandula’s death was private and was never intended to be overheard. Even so, Rahr said, his career and good reputation among his peers don’t overcome the impact of his actions on SPD.
“I believe the impact of your actions is so devastating that your intent to keep them private is not sufficiently mitigating,” she wrote. “Your individual actions have brought lasting shame on the Seattle Police Department, disgrace on our entire profession, and made the job of every police officer more difficult.”
Betts and the department’s command staff, in a recommendation made to then-Chief Adrian Diaz in January, found Auderer should either be fired or suspended 30 days without pay, the department’s most severe punishment short of termination.
Auderer had a face-to-face meeting with Diaz in May to offer mitigation and make any comments before the chief imposed discipline. A decision was expected within weeks, the city said at the time.
However, Harrell’s demotion of Diaz and appointment in May of Rahr as interim chief resulted in a delay. Rahr decided that, since Auderer’s discipline was now up to her, she would provide him with a second chance to explain himself, which happened earlier this month.
Betts, who formerly worked as an attorney in the Chicago Civilian Office of Police Accountability, has remained firm in his recommendation that Auderer be fired after concluding that Auderer’s comments were “vile, inhumane, disturbing, derogatory and disrespectful” and subjected the department to global outrage.
Auderer, 49, most recently was assigned to the traffic division. His comments about Kandula were made after he had volunteered to come to work and determine whether Kevin Dave, the officer driving the car that struck Kandula, was impaired.
It remains to be seen whether the disciplinary decision will affect currently deadlocked negotiations between the city and the union for a new police contract.
City officials have acknowledged officer accountability has been a key focus — and sticking point — in the negotiations. The issue remains central to SPD’s efforts to resolve the last vestiges of 12 years of federal oversight.
Auderer became involved in the investigation into Kandula’s Jan. 23, 2023, death when he volunteered to respond to the South Lake Union scene as one of the department’s certified drug- and inhibited-driver recognition experts.
The investigation, which remains ongoing, revealed Dave was driving 74 mph just before he struck Kandula, who was crossing Dexter Avenue North at Thomas Street in a crosswalk. Dashcam video shows Kandula apparently trying to beat the speeding Ford Explorer across the street when she was struck and knocked nearly 130 feet down the road.
Dave was later cited by the Seattle City Attorney’s Office for negligent driving, an infraction carrying a $5,000 fine.
Auderer examined Dave at the department’s East Precinct shortly after the crash and determined he was unimpaired.
The investigator then called Solan, the union president. Auderer’s end of their two-minute conversation was inadvertently captured on his body camera, which he didn’t know was running.
He had, however, turned off his car’s dashcam audio and video just before he dialed Solan, according to the OPA.
While on the phone with Solan, Auderer is heard laughing after stating Kandula was dead, incorrectly saying she was “just 26,” and reasoning her young life had “limited value” and that the city should “just write a check.”
The conversation went undiscovered until last August, when an SPD public disclosure employee flagged it for agency attorney Rebecca Boatright, who referred it to the OPA for investigation.
When The Seattle Times and news outlet PubliCola sought the body camera video through public disclosure, Auderer acknowledged in a letter to Betts that his statements, taken out of context, might be considered “horrifying and crude.” The officer asked for “rapid adjudication” in the discipline process. Betts refused.
Backlash to Auderer’s comments was swift and fierce, including condemnation from the government of India, Kandula’s home country. The public outcry also led SPD to take Auderer off the streets and reassign him to a desk pending the outcome of the internal investigation about his comments and the criminal investigation involving Dave.
Months later, in a disciplinary meeting held on the one-year anniversary of Kandula’s death, Betts recommended Auderer be terminated, finding he “undermined public trust in the department, himself, and his colleagues.”
SPD commanders then recommended Diaz punish Auderer with a minimum of 30 days off without pay — the most severe SPD discipline short of termination — or fire him.
Auderer and Solan have insisted their conversation involved union business and has been taken out of context — saying they were showing disdain for a legal process in which civil lawyers would argue and try to place a dollar value on Kandula’s life. Solan further claimed the OPA investigation amounted to union-bashing.
Betts concluded it was “immaterial” whether the recording was unintentional and that the topic, union business, didn’t excuse its content.
“For many, it confirmed, whether fairly or not, beliefs that some officers devalue and conceal perverse views about community members — heightened by the fact that the rank and file’s highest elected representatives participated in the call,” Betts wrote in his findings, which are also sharply critical of Solan’s unwillingness to cooperate with the OPA investigation.
