SPD Fires Officer Who Struck and Killed Pedestrian Jaahnavi Kandula Two Years Ago

Kevin Dave was driving 74 miles an hour in a 25 mph zone and did not have his siren running when he struck Kandula in a marked crosswalk in January 2023.

Jaahnavi Kandula

By Andrew Engelson

On Monday, interim Seattle Police Chief Sue Rahr sent an email to SPD staff announcing that she had fired officer Kevin Dave, who struck and killed 23-year-old graduate student Jaahnavi Kandula in a South Lake Union crosswalk in January 2023 while driving 74 miles per hour.

PubliCola obtained the email, which was first reported on by The Stranger, from SPD. In it, Rahr noted that the Office of Police Accountability found that Dave had violated four SPD policies. Officers must adhere to laws; officers should modify emergency response when required; officers are responsible for the safe operation of their vehicles; and officers should use emergency lights during emergency responses.

“I understand and accept that many will not agree with this decision,” Rahr wrote, adding that Dave was trying to get to a “possible overdose victim” and “did not intend to hurt anyone that night.” Rahr concluded, however, that “I cannot accept the tragic consequences of his dangerous driving. His positive intent does not mitigate the poor decision that caused the loss of a human life and brought discredit to the Seattle Police Department.”

The "possible overdose victim" was actually lucid and standing outside his South Lake Union apartment building when he called 911 to say he was "freaking out" on cocaine, telling the 911 dispatcher that his symptoms were “starting to go away."

PubliCola previously reported that SPD knew before hiring Dave that he had been fired from the Tucson Police Department in 2013 for a “checkered past” that included discipline for several incidents, including one for a “preventable” collision. Dave was also questioned in an erratic driving incident after his firing; a Tucson police officer who spoke with Dave reported that he “appeared to be on some type of narcotic.” PubliCola also found that at the time of the collision with Kandula, Dave did not have a valid Washington driver’s license.

King County Prosecutor Leesa Manion declined to press charges against Dave. City Attorney Ann Davison issued Dave a $5,000 second-degree negligent driving ticket, which he initially challenged, but later agreed to pay.

Kandula's killing became an international outrage after police union vice president Daniel Auderer was caught on a body cam video taken shortly after the crash joking with police union president Mike Solan that SPD should “write a check for $11,000” because the young woman had “limited value.” Last July, Rahr fired Auderer, who responded with a $20 million tort claim for wrongful termination.

In September, Kandula's family announced they were suing the city of Seattle for $110 million plus $11,000, in a direct reference to Auderer’s comment about her "limited value."

A PubliCola analysis of GPS data from SPD vehicles during the month of January 2023, when Kandula was killed, found that officers, including Auderer, regularly drive at excessive and dangerous speeds. In November, SPD updated its emergency vehicle operations policy, which had been extremely vague—instructing officers to “drive no faster than their skill and training allows and [what] is reasonably necessary to safely arrive at the scene.”