On January 23, 2023 Seattle, WA police officer Kevin Dave was dispatched to an emergency call in reference to a “drug overdose”. Officer Dave rushed to provide assistance with the intent to preserve life. In doing so, he traveled to the call at 74 mph in a 25 mph zone. While speeding at nearly fifty miles per hour above the posted speed limit - he struck and killed a 23 year-old pedestrian (Jaahnavi Kandura).
Post-Crash
After the crash a DRE Officer (drug recognition expert) was dispatched to assess the sobriety of Officer Dave. The DRE Officer (Officer Daniel Auderer) completed the investigation and found that Officer Dave was not impaired.
Phone Call
After leaving the scene, Officer Auderer (who is Vice President of the Seattle Police Officers Guild) called the President (Mike Sloan). That conversation was captured on Officer Auderer’s body camera - that he had neglected to turn off.
What was captured on that one-sided phone call is currently causing more national outrage from anti-police activists than the deadly crash itself.
Officer Auderer can then be heard saying: “She is dead,” before laughing.
He then continued, “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 finished, before turning off the body camera.
Mocking or Misunderstanding?
It sounds bad. And it is easy to apply bad intent to things that sound bad.
Anti-police activists immediately claimed that Officer Auderer was speaking callously about the lost life of Ms. Kandura. They claim that these few sentences, that lack context, are an example of the problem in policing.
Officer Auderer claimed that he was not mocking the death of Ms. Kandura. He stated that he was lamenting the process. That he was criticizing the attorneys that were undoubtedly going to turn this tragic loss of life into a fight over money.
Dark Humor
Police officers often utilize dark and/or inappropriate humor as a defense mechanism.
This is often the only way that humans can compartmentalize the horror of what cops see on a daily basis - from the other parts of their lives. This may not be healthy, but it may be a necessary bandaid that our first responders cling to.
Final Thoughts
I have no idea if Officer Auderer was employing dark humor to cover the open wound of a recent tragedy or if he was truly expressing frustration with the legal system. I am not a psychic and neither are the anti-police activists who will undoubtedly assume that Officer Auderer’s worst possible motive is his only possible motive.
Perhaps Officer Auderer is amongst the tens of thousands of police officers who would benefit from a “wellness” program, stress counselor, or some time off. If so, that is the landing place for this investigation - assistance with stress management.
Even if the remarks are proven to be insensitive locker room banter - it was speech between two police officers, outside the presence of any members of the public. Officer Auderer should not be disciplined or terminated for that offense.
If we recorded every conversation that every police officer, fire fighter, or paramedic had while at work and investigated, disciplined, or fired them for inappropriate remarks - we would have no emergency personnel or answer 911 calls. That I am absolutely sure of.
Mocking or Misunderstanding