Seattle: Demanding justice for Jaahnavi Kandula, members of the South Asian community here met the Mayor of Seattle and top city officials and also held a rally at the site where the Indian student was struck and killed by a speeding police patrol car.
Kandula, 23, was hit by a police vehicle driven by Officer Kevin Dave when she was crossing a street on January 23. He was driving at 74 mph (more than 119 kmh) on the way to a report of a drug overdose call.
In bodycam footage released on Monday by the Seattle Police Department, Officer Daniel Auderer laughed about the deadly crash and dismissed any implication Dave might be at fault or that a criminal investigation was necessary.
Auderer can be heard making insensitive comments like she had “limited value” and laughing following the fatal crash. On Saturday, the leaders and organisations representing the South Asian community in Seattle met Mayor Bruce Harrell, Police Chief Adrian Diaz and other city leaders.
“Effective public safety is built on trust between City government and the communities we serve. When that trust is breached, it is the City’s obligation to do the work necessary to restore and rebuild it,” Mayor Harrell was quoted as saying by Komo TV.
Statements by Mayor Harrell to date, that the offensive remarks represent an isolated incident, don’t go far enough to deal with the system and police culture, community leaders said.
Harrell further said that,”We want to express our extreme condolences for your loss. Many comments that have been made do not reflect the sympathy and the empathy and the condolences that we have.”
“I’m standing with our Chief of Police, Adrian Diaz and again with the Indian...the who’s who in the Indian community in the greater region, all coming together because of unfortunate and insensitive remarks that we believe were made. Making sure that our apologies as a city official are felt to your community and your family.”
Diaz further added that,”...I know that I talked to the brother and some of the other family. But we’re here to continue to listen, because we’re here. We want to stand with you. We want to figure out ways that you also feel in a situation. We want to work to ensure that that we value our human life that we do not dehumanise others.” More than 100 members of the Seattle area’s South Asian community also gathered at Denny Park on Saturday and made their way to the intersection where Kandula was hit by the speeding police vehicle.