SEATTLE (AP) — Seattle’s interim police chief mentioned 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, mentioned 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 answerable for safely working a patrol automobile, the Seattle Instances reported.
“I imagine the officer didn’t intend to harm anybody that evening and that he was making an attempt to get to a doable overdose sufferer as rapidly as doable,” Rahr wrote. “Nonetheless, I can not settle for the tragic penalties of his harmful driving. His constructive intent doesn’t mitigate the poor resolution 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, by way of 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 practically a 12 months after King County prosecutors mentioned they’d not file felony expenses in opposition to Dave, citing inadequate proof to show past an affordable doubt that Dave was consciously disregarding security within the crash that killed Jaahnavi Kandula.
The Seattle Metropolis Lawyer’s Workplace later issued Dave a $5,000 quotation for negligent driving. Metropolis prosecutors mentioned 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 not too long ago agreed to pay it, full an eight-hour site visitors security course inside a 12 months and do 40 hours of group service by Sept. 30, data filed in municipal courtroom present.
Kandula’s dying ignited outrage, significantly after a recording from one other officer’s body-worn digital camera surfaced, by which that officer laughed and prompt Kandula’s life had “restricted worth” and the town ought to “simply write a examine.” Diplomats from India sought an investigation. Town’s civilian watchdog discovered the feedback by Officer Daniel Auderer, who was a union chief, broken the division’s status and undermined public belief. Auderer was later fired.
Kandula’s household has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in opposition to the town and Dave.
