US cop whose car killed Indian student not to face criminal charges

US cop whose car killed Indian student not to face criminal charges
Washington: The Seattle police officer who struck and killed Indian student Jaahnavi Kandula while responding to an overdose call, will not face any criminal charges due to lack of “sufficient” evidence, authorities said.

On Wednesday, the King County Prosecutor’s Office said they would not move forward with criminal charges against Seattle police officer Kevin Dave, a news portal reported.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the King County Prosecuting Attorney said, “Kandula’s death is heartbreaking and impacted communities in King County and across the world.”

Kandula, 23, was struck by a police vehicle driven by Dave when she was crossing a street in Seattle on January 23. He was driving 74 mph (more than 119 kmh) on the way to a report of a drug overdose call. Kandula was thrown 100 feet when she was struck by the speeding police patrol vehicle.

In bodycam footage released by the Seattle Police Department, officer Daniel Auderer laughed about the deadly crash and dismissed any implication Dave might be at fault or that a criminal investigation was necessary.

King County prosecuting attorney Leesa Manion said she believed they lacked the evidence to prove a criminal case beyond a reasonable doubt, the report added.

Disgraceful, says KTR

Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi’s working president KT Rama Rao on Thursday termed the decision of a US court to drop criminal charges against a cop who ran over Jaahnavi Kandula last year “disgraceful” and “absolutely unacceptable”. Jaahnavi belonged to Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool district.