Has Kevin Dave been charged over Jaahnavi Kandula's death? New bodycam footage shows moment officer fatally hit student in Seattle
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON: New evidence has been released in the case of the fatal accident of the Indian student Jaahnavi Kandula. Kandula, 23, was a graduate student in Northeast University when she was hit and killed by a Seattle police car on January 23, 2023. The accident scene is visible in a newly released body camera footage.
The video footage, which was first published by Publicola, was released by King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, as per FOX 13. In the hit-and-kill case, Seattle police officer Kevin Dave was driving the car when the vehicle hit Kandula. The video, which was used as a part of the investigation, is now in the public domain.
Has Kevin Dave been charged over Jaahnavi Kandula's death?
The investigation is still ongoing and the decisions are expected to be made by early August. The video released by the police department showed the prosecuted police officer Dave responding to a Priority One call while driving his patrol car. While the sirens from the police car were heard, they were not continuous.
The accident happened at the intersection of Dexter Avenue North and Thomas Street. The speed limit on Dexter Avenue North is 25 miles per hour while it is 20 miles per hour on Thomas Street. The speedometer of Dave’s car showed an acceleration of up to 74 miles per hour. The video shows Kandula was hit at the intersection just moments after Dave’s car reached the high-speed limit.
After the accident, Dave was seen calling dispatch for help for a struck pedestrian. Dave performed CPR on Kandula until other first responders came.
As per the officials of SPD, Dave was responding to a Priority One call, which is the highest in the order of priority, for an overdose when the accident happened. He was seen passing red lights at high speeds. While he slowed down slightly, Kandula was hit as he applied the brakes.
In the video, he was heard saying to a responding officer, "Lights were on. I was chirping the sirens…she was in the crosswalk. She saw me, she started running through the crosswalk. Slammed on my breaks. Started staying back where she should before crossing."
While sitting in the passenger seat of another police car, Dave was heard saying, “I can have a hundred minutes. I could have…there’s nothing for me to do right now, but sit. And that is the f**king worst thing that…you just have to sit here. So many questions that are unanswered, so many questions."
Investigation for the accident is still going on. Police said at the time that they would check whether Dave was complying with the traffic rules of the department. Chief Adrian Diaz explained in a statement on January 30, "Any serious traffic collision on City streets, whether officer-involved or not, is investigated as a potential criminal matter by the Traffic Collision Investigation Squad."
Who was Jaahnavi Kandula?
Kandula was a graduate student at Northeastern University's Seattle campus where she was pursuing a Master of Science degree in Information Systems in the College of Engineering. Daughter to a single mother who is a schoolteacher in India, Kandula came to America in 2021 from Bengaluru. She was scheduled to graduate in December 2023. A GoFundMe campaign was started to support her mother after her death.