The City of Seattle is now paying $29,011,000 to the family of a woman hit and killed by a Seattle Police officer to settle a negligence lawsuit.
23-year-old Jaahnavi Kandula was a graduate student at Northeastern University. Three years ago, she was hit by Officer Kevin Dave in the crosswalk at Dexter Avenue and Thomas Street.
An investigation found he used flashing lights and chirps at intersections, but wasn’t continuously running the siren.
He ended up crashing into Kandula while driving 75mph in a 25mph zone. Dave was later fired from SPD and cited for negligent driving.
A second officer, Daniel Auderer, was also fired after his body-worn camera footage from that night surfaced. In the video, you can hear Auderer talking to the vice president of the Seattle Police Officers’ Guild. He was speaking with SPOG President Mike Solan.
In that conversation, Auderer can be heard laughing as he referred to Kandula as “a regular person,” going on to say, “just write a check -- $11,000, she was 26 anyway, she had limited value.”
Now, Kandula’s family is set to receive $29,011,000 from their settlement with the City of Seattle.
On the phone, their attorney said the $11,000 is a symbolic callback to the public and family’s outrage over Auderer’s comments.
However, that’s far less than the $110 million negligence lawsuit originally filed by the family in 2024.
The lawsuit claims Dave had a troubled history.
It says Officer Dave was fired from the Tucson Police Department before coming to SPD for “engaging in multiple incidents of poor performance and misconduct”.
The suit says Dave was previously involved in two crashes in Tucson, and in 2014, he ran from police and hid the car in an alley. He was suspected of being under the influence at the time.
Documents also say Dave didn’t have a valid Washington Driver’s License at the time of the crash that killed Kandula.
Dave was fired from SPD in January 2025.
Seattle City Attorney Erika Evans commented on the settlement, saying:
“Jaahnavi Kandula’s death was heartbreaking, and the city hopes this financial settlement brings some sense of closure to the Kandula family. We also recognize that her loss has left unimaginable pain. Jaahnavi Kandula’s life mattered. It mattered to her family, to her friends, and to our community.”
$20 million of that $29 million payout will come from Seattle’s insurance.
We have reached out to SPD for a comment, but have not heard back.
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