Seattle reaches $29M settlement with family of student killed by speeding officer

The city of Seattle will pay $29 million to settle a negligence lawsuit filed by the family of a 23-year-old graduate student from India who was struck and killed by a speeding police officer in 2023.

Seattle police Officer Kevin Dave was going 74 mph in a 25 -mph zone while responding to a report of a drug overdose when he hit and killed Jaahnavi Kandula in a South Lake Union crosswalk. Dash camera video showed Kandula stepping into the road, noticing the speeding car and then apparently trying to beat it across the intersection.

Dave was cited for negligent driving and agreed to pay a $5,000 fine. He was fired by the police department but not criminally charged, a decision that outraged Kandula’s family.

“Jaahnavi Kandula’s death was heartbreaking, and the city hopes this financial settlement brings some sense of closure to the Kandula family,” City Attorney Erika Evans said in a statement. “Jaahnavi Kandula’s life mattered. It mattered to her family, her friends and to our community.”

The hefty settlement brings with it some irony. The police department fired another officer, Daniel Auderer, who made “vile” and “callous” comments about her death to Seattle Police Officers Guild President Mike Solan in a telephone call inadvertently recorded by his body camera. The men were caught laughing, joking and downplaying Kandula’s death, suggesting her young life had “limited value” and that the city should “just write a check” for $11,000.

Auderer’s comment outraged department leaders and the community and led to his termination. Auderer, who at the time was the vice president of the police officers union, has since sued the city for wrongful termination and is asking for $25 million.

Phone messages left with the Kandula family’s attorney, Susan Mindenbergs, were not immediately returned.

The lawsuit filed in King County Superior Court alleged Kandula “experienced terror, severe emotional distress, and severe pain and suffering before dying.”

On Jan. 23, 2023, Dave had his emergency lights activated but was only “chirping” his siren at controlled intersections. Kandula was wearing earbuds when she was hit in an unregulated crosswalk at Dexter Avenue North and Thomas Street, according to an investigation by the King County prosecuting attorney’s office.

The impact from Dave’s police SUV knocked her nearly 137 feet. Dave performed CPR on the woman until other officers and medics arrived. Kandula died that evening at Harborview Medical Center.

Outrage over Kandula’s death simmered for months in Seattle’s South Asian communities before exploding internationally after the recording of Auderer’s conversation was released.

An investigation by the city’s office of police accountability found Dave had violated the Seattle Police Department’s standards and duties, failed to modify his emergency response for the conditions at hand, and had unsafely operated his patrol vehicle and its emergency equipment. He had previously crashed a patrol car in 2021, according to the OPA investigation.

The settlement comes on the heels of a $30 million wrongful-death verdict reached by a King County jury last month over the city’s failed response to the shooting death of Antonio Mays Jr. Mays was killed in June 2020 during the Capitol Hill Organized Protest, or CHOP, in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer.

The largest settlement the city has ever paid was $65.75 million to Brooke Taylor, whose car was struck by a speeding ambulance in 2016. Taylor was an accomplished and recognized attorney who suffered a traumatic brain injury and whose high-paying legal career was ended by the incident.