SEATTLE (AP) — Seattle’s interim police chief stated Monday that she has fired a police officer who in 2023 struck and killed a graduate scholar from India whereas responding to an overdose name.
Interim police chief Sue Rahr, in an e mail to staff, stated she fired Kevin Dave after the Seattle Workplace of Police Accountability discovered he had violated 4 division insurance policies, together with one which requires being liable for safely working a patrol automobile, the Seattle Times reported.
“I imagine the officer didn’t intend to harm anybody that evening and that he was making an attempt to get to a attainable overdose sufferer as rapidly as attainable,” Rahr wrote. “Nonetheless, I can’t settle for the tragic penalties of his harmful driving. His optimistic intent doesn’t mitigate the poor determination that induced the lack of a human life and introduced discredit to the Seattle Police Division.”
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A message despatched to the Seattle Police Officers Guild, a police union, through the group’s web site by The Related Press was not instantly returned. Makes an attempt to achieve Dave weren’t profitable.
Rahr’s announcement comes almost a 12 months after King County prosecutors stated they might not file felony expenses towards Dave, citing inadequate proof to show past an inexpensive doubt that Dave was consciously disregarding security within the crash that killed Jaahnavi Kandula.
The Seattle Metropolis Legal professional’s Workplace later issued Dave a $5,000 quotation for negligent driving. Metropolis prosecutors stated Dave was driving as quick as 74 mph (119 kph) on a road with a 25-mph (40 kph) pace restrict earlier than hanging Kandula. After initially contesting the ticket, Dave lately agreed to pay it, full an eight-hour visitors security course inside a 12 months and do 40 hours of neighborhood service by Sept. 30, information filed in municipal courtroom present.
Kandula’s loss of life ignited outrage, notably after a recording from another officer’s body-worn digicam surfaced, wherein that officer laughed and instructed Kandula’s life had “restricted worth” and the town ought to “simply write a test.” Diplomats from India sought an investigation. The town’s civilian watchdog discovered the feedback by Officer Daniel Auderer, who was a union chief, broken the division’s fame and undermined public belief. Auderer was later fired.
Kandula’s household has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit towards the town and Dave.
