A former Seattle police officer is taking the city to court accusing the police department of wrongfully terminating him for a callous remark that was caught on body camera video referring to the death of a 23-year-old woman.
Daniel Auderer wants $20 million in damages for wrongful termination. He was fired after supervisors reviewed his body camera footage and were disturbed by remarks Auderer made after the death of Jaahnavi Kandula, then a student at Northeastern University.
Kandula died after she was struck by a Seattle police cruiser that was being driven by an officer other than Auderer. But his body cam footage caught him saying the department should “just write a check” for $11,000 to the victim’s family because, at her age, Kandula “had limited value.”
Auderer said his remarks were stripped of context in order to smear him and cost him his reputation. He also says he lost out on $200,000 in salary annually after being fired.
The former cop also accuses the Seattle Police Department of leading “false information” about what he says was his “wrongfully initiated” discipline process, and of leaking his personal information to the public. Auderer also says he thinks he was fired because he was a leader in the Seattle Police Officer’s Guild.
“This was retaliatory,” the cop said, and was done because he led the police union.
Not so, says interim police chief Sue Rahr. She told news media that firing Auderer was a “difficult judgment call” that required the department to find a balance between the intent of the words he spoke, and the impact they had. She said Auderer’s remarks “brought shame” on the department and on policing as a whole, making life more difficult for cops everywhere. Had she not fired the officer, Rahr said, she would be bringing “dishonor” onto the department.
Kandula died on January 23, 2023, when a police cruiser accidentally crashed into her while she was crossing the street. Auderer was not driving the car, but he was dispatched to the scene. The cop who was driving his car was en route to an emergency call, but was also cited for traffic infractions.
