Seattle police officer who struck and killed graduate student won’t face felony charges

SEATTLE — Prosecutors in Washington state said Wednesday they will not file felony charges against a Seattle police officer who struck and killed a graduate student from India while responding to an overdose call — a case that attracted widespread attention after another officer was recorded making callous remarks about it.

Officer Kevin Dave was driving 74 mph on a street with a 25 mph speed limit in a police SUV before he hit 23-year-old Jaahnavi Kandula in a crosswalk on Jan. 23, 2023.

In a memo to the Seattle Police Department on Wednesday, the King County prosecutor’s office noted that Dave had on his emergency lights, that other pedestrians reported hearing his siren, and that Kandula appeared to try to run across the intersection after seeing his vehicle approaching. She might also have been wearing wireless earbuds that could have diminished her hearing, they noted.

For those reasons, a felony charge of vehicular homicide was not warranted: “There is insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Ofc. Dave was consciously disregarding safety,” the memo said.

t remains possible that city prosecutors could file lesser charges, such as negligent driving. Tim Robinson, a spokesman for the Seattle City Attorney’s Office, said Wednesday that the case had not been referred to it for possible misdemeanor prosecution, and the Seattle Police Department did not immediately respond to an emailed inquiry about whether it might refer the case to that office.

Kandula’s death ignited outrage, especially after a recording from another officer’s body-worn camera surfaced last September, in which that officer laughs and suggests that Kandula’s life had “limited value” and the city should “just write a check.”

Diploma