‘Deeply troubling’ India demands probe after US cop jokes about Indian Student's death

livemint.com:

Jaahnavi Kandula was killed in January after she was struck by a police vehicle driven by Officer Kevin Dave. As per Seattle Times newspaper, he was driving at 74 mph (more than 119 kmph) on the way to a report of an overdose. In bodycam footage released on Monday by the Seattle Police Department, Officer Daniel Auderer laughed about the deadly crash and dismissed any implication Dave might be at fault or that a criminal investigation was necessary.

In the footage, Auderer, the vice president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, was on a call with the guild's president, Mike Solan. He laughed several times, saying at one point, "Yeah, just write a cheque." "Eleven thousand dollars. She was 26 anyway," Auderer said in the video, misstating Kandula's age.

"She had limited value," he was quoted as saying as reported by PTI. Auderer said that Dave's vehicle had been "going 50" and that "that's not out of control," NBC News reported. A police investigation report referred to prosecutors for review last month said that Dave had been driving at 74 mph, and Kandula was thrown more than 100 feet after the impact.

"That's not reckless for a trained driver," Auderer said in the video, adding that he doesn't believe "she was thrown 40 feet either," the report said. "But she is dead," he said, laughing and adding, "No, it's a regular person." Only Auderer's side of the conversation was audible in the bodycam footage. Meanwhile, Auderer said that he made the comment as a mockery of lawyers, according to KTTH radio station in Seattle.