The city of Seattle will pay $29 million to the family of a graduate student from India who was struck and killed in a crosswalk in 2023 by a police officer who was driving nearly three times the speed limit as he responded to a call.
The Feb. 4 settlement brought an end to a wrongful-death lawsuit that was filed in 2024 in King County Superior Court by the parents of Jaahnavi Kandula, 23, who was enrolled at Northeastern University’s Seattle campus.
Two officers were fired after the crash: the driver of the sport utility vehicle that hit Ms. Kandula and an officer who was recorded on a body camera laughing about her death.
“Jaahnavi Kandula’s death was heartbreaking, and the city hopes this financial settlement brings some sense of closure to the Kandula family,” Erika Evans, who took office last month as the city attorney, said in statement.
“We also recognize that her loss has left unimaginable pain,” Ms. Evans said. “Jaahnavi Kandula’s life mattered. It mattered to her family, to her friends and to our community.”
In a statement, members of Ms. Kandula’s family said they were grateful to reach a resolution in the case.
“While no amount can ever bring Jaahnavi back, we hope this resolution reflects the seriousness of what was lost and underscores the value of her life,” the family said. “She was cherished beyond measure, and her future was full of promise. Our hope is that her memory is treated with dignity and respect.”
On the night of Jan. 23, 2023, Ms. Kandula had entered a crosswalk on Dexter Avenue near Thomas Street in the South Lake Union neighborhood when a police S.U.V. driven by Officer Kevin A. Dave approached the intersection with its lights flashing but not with a continuous siren sounding, according to the Seattle Office of Police Accountability.
The officer had been responding to a call involving a potential overdose and was chirping his siren intermittently as his patrol vehicle reached a speed of 74 miles an hour in the 25-m.p.h. zone, investigators said.
As the police S.U.V. approached the intersection, Ms. Kandula was trying to scramble to the other side of the street when she was hit. She was thrown onto the hood and landed 138 feet from the vehicle, whose driver had tried to brake, the internal investigation found. The force of the collision dislodged a pair of AirPods that Ms. Kandula had been wearing.
King County prosecutors did not file criminal charges against Mr. Dave, who the Office of Police Accountability determined had violated several Police Department policies and was fired in January 2025.
Investigators concluded that Mr. Dave had failed to drive “with due regard for the safety of all persons” as required by state law in Washington. They also learned that he had been involved in another collision in a patrol vehicle in 2021 in which he had also not used his siren.
Mr. Dave was also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, which accused the former officer of negligence in causing Ms. Kandula’s death and had sought $110 million. He received a traffic citation for negligent driving and paid a $5,000 fine.
“Officer Dave feels deep grief, remorse and regret over Ms. Kandula’s death,” his lawyer, Kelly Sheridan, said in an email on Thursday. “He is hopeful that this settlement might allow everyone affected to continue the healing process.”
About six months before the Seattle Police Department ousted Mr. Dave, it fired another officer for what officials described as cruel and callous remarks that officer made about Ms. Kandula in a police body camera video shortly after her death.
That officer, Daniel Auderer, did not know the camera he was wearing was recording. He was driving his patrol vehicle and speaking on the phone to another person, who was identified by the police union as its president, Mike Solan, who could not be heard talking.
“She is dead,” Officer Auderer told Officer Solan, before bursting out laughing. “No, it’s a regular person,” Officer Auderer said, adding: “Yeah, just write a check — $11,000. She was 26, anyway. She had limited value.”
Mr. Auderer’s remarks drew condemnation from members of Seattle’s South Asian community and city officials.
Mr. Auderer, the union’s vice president at the time, sued the city for wrongful termination and argued that his comments were about lawyers and had been taken out of context.
Neil Vigdor covers breaking news for The Times, with a focus on politics.
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