Seattle Cop who ran over Indian Student to face no criminal charges

The Seattle cop, Kevin Dave, who ran over Indian student Jaahnvi Kandula is facing no criminal charges due to lack of “sufficient” evidence. Jaahnavi Kandula was a 23-year-old Indian student and was killed after being hit by a speeding police vehicle in the US state of Washington on January 23, 2023.

 After a year of legal battles, court proceedings, statements from both the Indian and US governments, and calls for accountability, the police officer behind the wheels of the vehicle is allowed to go free.

The King County Prosecutor's Office said on Wednesday that they will not be pressing any criminal charges against Kevin Dave. In a memo to Seattle police, prosecutors wrote there was not enough evidence to prove Dave showed "conscious disregard for others safety."

Dave was responding to an emergency call and was in a 25-mile-per-hour zone at the time of the collision. Kandula had the right of way and was struck by the cruiser at approximately 63 miles per hour.

“Ms. Kandula’s death is heartbreaking and impacted communities in King County and across the world," Manion said in a statement. "It is the responsibility of the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office (PAO) to review all available evidence relating to the case involving Seattle Police Officer Kevin Dave and the January 2023 collision death of Jaahnavi Kandula. After staffing this case with senior deputy prosecuting attorneys and office leadership, I have determined that we lack sufficient evidence under Washington State law to prove a criminal case beyond a reasonable doubt."

A report found that speed was the cause of the collision, as the speed at which Dave was traveling did "not allow [Kandula] or him sufficient time to detect, address and avoid a hazard that presented itself," the report stated.

Dave was responding to a "priority one" call at the request of the Seattle Fire Department, according to the Seattle Police Department. 

According to the report, the officer was responding to a report of a drug overdose. According to the report, the officer did not have his siren activated continuously. Instead, the officer "chirped" his siren at the intersection. He did have his emergency lights on, according to a previous statement from the police department. At the time of the collision, Kandula was wearing a black jacket, black pants and white shoes. She may have had Apple AirPods in both ears, according to the report. Investigators were unable to determine what mode the AirPods were in - if they were worn at the time of the collision. She was about 18 feet into the crosswalk when she was hit, according to the report.

Outrage over the death of Kandula, who was from India, had simmered for months in Seattle’s Indian diaspora before exploding internationally after publication last summer of a recording that depicted a city police union official laughing and downplaying her death, saying she had “limited value” and that the city should “just write a check.”

Shockingbodycam footage shows a police officer laughing about a woman who was struck and killed by patrol car in Seattle.Jaahnavi Kandula,23 was killed in January on a crosswalk near her university campus while police were responding to an overdose in the South Lake union neighbo pic.twitter.com/sYPaxVE4wp

— Lina (@Lina__430) September 13, 2023

Meanwhile, Jaahnavi Kandula’s family is shocked at the decision not to charge the officer. Jaahnavi’s parents expressed, “First they joked about it, now the officer responsible has been let off. There is no justice and no closure for us. It is devastating.”

Hailing from Halvi village in Kowthalam Mandal of Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh, Jahnavi’s parents live in Adoni, where her mother K Vijayalakshmi was a school teacher while her father K Srikanth had retired from the police department. “We keep receiving one bad news after another about the case,” said a family member. Her mother has withdrawn into a shell while her sister remains traumatized, the family said.

Hailing from a middle-class family, Jahnavi first studied at a government school before joining the Dr Jyothirmayi Degree College at Adoni. She completed her B.Com in 2019 and went to the US in September 2020 to pursue the two-year MS course, which was to finish in December.