Seattle, Sept 20: The Seattle Police Department has said that they will review a policy that allows a police union official to be involved in an investigation of a rank-and-file officer they represent and defend, a potential conflict of interest that has emerged following the tragic death of Indian student Jaahnavi Kandula.
Kandula, 23, was struck and killed by Officer Kevin Dave on the night of January 23 when his overspeeding patrol vehicle hit her. As part of the investigation, Officer Daniel Auderer, a certified drug-recognition expert, and the elected vice president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG), was called from home to perform field sobriety tests on Dave at the West Precinct.
“It was very obvious to me that Dave was not impaired and safe to operate a motor vehicle,” Auderer concluded after conducting a series of observations and tests recorded in his report.
However, SPOG that night also provided Dave with an attorney from the law firm of Frey Buck, who also appeared at the West Precinct. After Dave was given his Miranda warning by the case detective, he refused to give a statement to investigators, according to reports.
In the United States, the Miranda warning is a type of notification customarily given by police to criminal suspects in police custody advising them of their right to silence and, in effect, protection from self-incrimination; that is, their right to refuse to answer questions or provide information to law enforcement or other officials.
The Seattle Police Department on Tuesday said that they will review the policy that allows a police union official to be involved in an investigation of a rank-and-file officer they represent and defend, the Seattle Times newspaper reported.
Last week, a video surfaced of Auderer laughing and joking in a telephone call to SPOG President Mike Solan about the “value” of Kandula’s life, calling her a “regular person” and suggesting that the department “write a check” while on the phone with Solan.
“Eleven thousand dollars. She was 26 anyway,” Auderer said, adding that “She had limited value.”
SPOG has long been seen by city officials as an obstacle to the city’s decade-long attempts to adopt reforms and get out from beneath the constraints of a federal consent decree after the US Department of Justice concluded SPD officers routinely used excessive force and showed disturbing evidence of biased policing, the Seattle Times reported.
SPOG has fought the implementation of body and dash cameras, and its last contract — it’s been more than two years without a new one — undermined a City Council-passed officer accountability ordinance and prolonged federal oversight.
During a regular council briefing on Monday, Councilmember Tammy Morales reissued a call for police Chief Adrian Diaz to publicly address the incident and departmental culture.
Morales also questioned why union leadership would be called to make a determination in an incident that could yield major disciplinary action.
“I’m particularly interested in hearing why Daniel Auderer, the VP of SPOG, was tasked with giving the officer who hit Jaahnavi, Kevin Dave, sobriety tests rather than having an unbiased third party do that, and why the department ran blood tests on Jaahnavi to try and detect drugs in the first place,” Morales said.
Councilmember Lisa Herbold, who oversees public safety issues on the council, told Morales that she raised the issue of Auderer responding to test Dave to the department last week, noting her concern about a conflict of interest.
Kandula’s death and the accident are currently under review by the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Officer, where a spokesperson said Monday that prosecutors are aware of the issues, “and all aspects of this investigation are being taken into account.”
Kandula was set to graduate this coming December with a master’s degree in information systems from the Seattle campus of Northeastern University. Her family said she was working toward supporting her mother in India. (PTI)
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