OPINION | Honor Jaahnavi Kandula's Life by Rejecting Initiative 2113

by Gennette Cordova

Just months ago, Seattle was thrust into the national spotlight after a recording of Seattle Police Department officer Daniel Auderer laughing about the death of grad student Jaahnavi Kandula was leaked to the public.

In January of this year, when Seattle police officer Kevin Dave killed Kandula as he sped at 74 miles per hour through a marked crosswalk, it was Auderer who was responsible for evaluating Dave for any impairments. Hours after the incident, Auderer, who is the vice president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, laughed and remarked that Kandula's life had "limited value." These horrifying remarks were caught on his bodycam and publicized in September.

Now, nearly a year after Kandula's death, there's been no adequate response from the City or the police department. Taxpayers are still paying the salaries of both officers. Even more alarming, Washington State Republicans are now gathering signatures pushing for Initiative No. 2113, which would gut the police pursuit section of House Bill 1054, which was put in place to keep innocent bystanders safe from reckless, high-speed police chases.

Granted, HB 1054 would not have saved Kandula, as the officer who killed her was not pursuing a suspect, but it will almost certainly save someone else from suffering her same fate.

As I wrote last year, the law is based on data that shows that police car chases are dangerous, often fatal, and seldomly result in stopping further violence. In addition to killing suspects, many who've committed non-violent crimes, the vehicle pursuits have killed and injured "thousands of innocent bystanders." According to the CDC, these preventable motor-vehicle-related incidents are also a leading cause of line-of-duty deaths for cops in the United States.

As the campaign to undo this common-sense legislation has ramped up, there has been a sharp increase in social media posts highlighting alleged violent criminals being free to flee crime scenes because police were allegedly unable to pursue them. Opponents of the law, who are pushing the petition to amend it, have implied that the law renders police officers wholly unable to pursue any suspects.

For clarity, according to the current policy, cops are allowed to engage in vehicular pursuits when there's "reasonable suspicion" (a lower threshold than "probable cause") that a person in the vehicle has committed a violent offense; a sex offense; a vehicular assault; a domestic assault in the first, second, third, or fourth degree; an escape from custody; or a DUI.

But this is not enough for the law's detractors, who are advocating for cops to be able to chase anyone they suspect has violated any law, even shoplifting.

Ironically, if Dave had been chasing a shoplifter when he killed Jaahnavi Kandula, the suspect would have likely ended up being charged for her death under our state's felony murder law. It's backwards and deeply unsettling that this is essentially the only scenario in which someone would be held accountable for the senseless vehicular homicide of this innocent young woman.

Furthermore, how can an argument be made to loosen police pursuit policy when the department currently employs officers who violate the policy with little to no repercussions? As The Stranger reported this week, officer Ilya Ivanov's failure to follow pursuit policies have resulted in at least two car crashes with multiple bystanders being injured. In Ivanov's most recent violation of the pursuit policy, he was misleading in his justification for the pursuit and caused the Volvo he was chasing to crash. It later turned out that the people in the car were in no way involved in the alleged crime Ivanov erroneously believed they were connected to. For this, Ivanov was given only a two-day suspension.

I'm joining civil rights organizations, like the ACLU, in their call to encourage Seattle voters to decline to sign petitions for Initiative 2113. And if the initiative happens to get enough signatures to appear on the ballot next year, voting no will be the safest, most just choice. Like many policies, our current standard for police pursuits may need to be reexamined and adjusted, but simply allowing police to engage in these chases unrestricted is unacceptable.

When determining your stance on this issue, remember that the data shows chases are more dangerous than they are effective. Remember that Auderer, who was responsible for evaluating the possible impairment of Dave, left the scene and laughed about Kandula's life having "limited value." Remember that we're still paying the salaries of both officers and that they've faced no real consequences. Remember that they drug-tested Kandula's lifeless body but not the cop who killed her. Remember that advocates of the initiative, which would give cops the freedom to engage in reckless car chases with essentially no restrictions, have also tried to blame Kandula for her own death for a number of reasons, including that she was wearing all black.

In 2012, SPD was placed under federal oversight after a Department of Justice investigation concluded that the department displayed a "pattern or practice of constitutional violations regarding the use of force that result from structural problems." In 2019, while SPD was still under this consent decree, a judge ruled that the City had fallen out of compliance in the area of discipline and accountability.

It is this chronic lack of discipline and accountability, which is constantly supported by our police union, that essentially ensures there will be no justice for the next innocent bystander who is struck and killed by a speeding police officer, just as there's been none for Jaahnavi Kandula. As we seemingly have no power to bring forth that justice, we must consider it our moral obligation to do what we can to prevent further death and injury by defeating Initiative 2113.

Gennette Cordova is a writer, organizer, and social impact manager. She contributes to publications like Teen Vogue and Revolt TV and runs an organization, Lorraine House, which seeks to build and uplift radical communities through art and activism.

📸 Featured Image: A protest sign taped to the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) building fence proclaiming that Jaahnavi Kandula's life mattered during a Sept. 23, 2023, protest. Hours after Kandula's death, Seattle police officer Daniel Auderer said in a phone call to Mike Solan, president of SPOG, that Kandula had "limited value." (Photo: Alex Garland)