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A fired Seattle police officer is suing the city for wrongful termination and damages after he was fired over a body camera video that shows what appears to be him joking and laughing after a woman was struck and killed by a patrol car.
Former Seattle police officer Daniel Auderer has filed a $20 million lawsuit seeking damages against the city of Seattle weeks after he was fired for his behavior following the death of Jaahnavi Kandula, a 23-year-old student at Northeastern University.
Auderer alleges damage to her personal reputation, wrongful termination and mental pain and suffering. She also claims lost wages of $200,000 a year.
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Following his comments and recent firing following an investigation, Auderer said his comments were taken out of context.
In the complaint, Auderer said in part: “Seattle Police leaked false information about wrongly initiated disciplinary proceedings as well as my personal information.”
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He also argued that he was wrongfully fired because of his leadership role in the Seattle Police Officers Guild.
“The SPD dismissed me unfairly. This was retaliation, at least because of my union leadership.”
In a sentence a FOX 13, Interim Seattle Police Chief Sue Rahr defended her decision to fire Auderer.
“At the root of this case is an extremely difficult decision about how to fairly balance ‘intent versus impact,’” Rahr said. “The actions [of] “This individual police officer has brought shame on the Seattle Police Department and our entire profession, making the job of every police officer more difficult.”
A Seattle police officer has been fired for making insensitive comments about the death of an Indian graduate student after she was struck by another officer’s vehicle in a crosswalk last year. (Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times via AP, file)
The 23-year-old woman died after she was hit by a Seattle police car driven by another officer.
In body camera footage previously released by the Seattle Police Department, Auderer is heard referring to Kandula as “a normal person” and saying, “He just writes a check — $11,000, he was 26 anyway, it had limited value.”
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Fox News Digital has reached out to the Seattle Police Department and the city of Seattle for comment.
