Jaahnavi Kandula, a college student attending Northeastern University was disgustingly robbed of her life. LIke any other young adult, Jaahnavi was studying information systems and was on her way to earning her Master’s degree this coming December. Her motivation? Her single mother back home in India. Jaahnavi’s sole purpose for studying abroad was to not only support herself and her future, but the present and future of her mother and family back in her motherland. Tragically, their worlds all stopped when death was brought upon Jaahnavi by the reckless actions of Seattle police officer, Kevin Dave. 

Jaahnavi was peacefully walking in a crosswalk at Thomas Street and Dexter Avenue when Kevin Dave, Seattle police officer, struck Jaahnavi at seventy four miles per hour. Kandula reportedly went up on the hood, and from there was thrown off onto the ground by the intense impact. 

Officer's response? Absolutely no regret, guilty conscience, or sadness for the life taken away. Seattle Police Officers Guild’s very own Vice President, Daniel Auderer, had a terrible response. Information supported by bodycam, Auderer recaps on the crime in a disturbing way. After describing the way Kandula was hit by the car, it is followed by heavy laughter and jokes. Auderer even states, “but SHE IS dead… *laughter*...no it’s a regular person… yeah just write a check… $11,000 she was 26 anyway she had limited value”. Be reminded that these words come from the Vice President of one of Seattle’s main police departments. As if Jaahnavi’s death wasn't heartbreaking enough, the bodycam footage was more than damaging to the grieving family.

Officer Kevin Dave, the one who struck Kandula, has an incriminating driving record. Dave’s driver license was suspended in 2018, and he possesses various unpaid traffic fines and  court absences, and often ran red lights. It’s clear that Kevin Dave has little regard for the law, and figures like this should not be allowed to become police officers. 

My take? If this was truly an accident, any police officer hearing about it would have grieved with the family. However, police officers chuckled at the thought of a young student being thrown off the hood of a police cruiser. They laughed at a single mother wondering why her daughter isn't answering and communicating with family members. They laughed at South Asian female students who already have to break barriers just to receive quality education, let alone education abroad. They laughed at the Kandula family whose daughter, sister, and niece’s life mattered to them, but in America, it appears it was worth nothing. 

Although an investigation is now being done into the horrible case, it took eight months for the case to get national attention on the news and on social media, and just for someone to take a deeper look into her case. A case like this should never happen in the first place, but the way it was handled is absolutely infuriating and gut-wrenching. No one deserves this type of treatment, and it’s important that people as a collective weed out shameful officers, so we can avoid tragedies like this that do harm instead of good. There needs to be justice for Jaahnavi Kandula and justice for all people who have faced injustices like she did.