Jaahnavi Kandula of Bengaluru, Karnataka, India has died. She was 23.
Kandula was a student of Northeastern University in Seattle, King County, Washington, United States. She is the daughter of a single mother, who earns less than $200 a month as an elementary school teacher in India.
In 2021, Kandula moved from Bengaluru to Seattle and entered the College of Engineering of Northeastern University to earn her master’s degree in information systems. She was supposed to graduate in December 2023.
But at around 8:00 p.m. on January 23, 2023, Kandula was crossing the intersection of Dexter Avenue North and Thomas Street near the Northeastern University campus in Seattle when she was hit in the crosswalk by a speeding Seattle Police Department car. The man behind the wheel is Seattle Police Department officer Kevin Austin Dave, 35, who was responding to a high-priority call near the university involving a man who had overdosed on drugs.
As shown by bodycam footage, Dave sped past red lights and slowed down slightly before Kandula was hit. When he called into radio dispatch for backup, he said, “Lights were on. I was chirping the sirens.”
“She was in the crosswalk,” Dave said of Kandula. “She saw me. She started running through the crosswalk (so I) slammed on my breaks (and) started staying back where she should before crossing.”
Dave performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Kandula until several other first responders arrived at the scene. She was rushed to a hospital near the university and was pronounced dead on January 24, 2023.
The Seattle Police Department ruled the incident an accident. Days after Kandula’s death, Dave returned to duty.
Davis is a former U.S. Marine Corps member. From 2012 to 2013, he was a police officer in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona, USA.
After leaving the Tucson Police Department, Dave joined Kohl’s and JCPenney as a loss prevention officer. In 2018, his driver’s license in Arizona was suspended for unpaid traffic fines and failure to appear in court and he was ticketed for running a red light in Puyallup, Pierce County, Washington.
In November 2019, Dave joined the Seattle Police Department with a hiring bonus. His annual base pay is $95,380.
CONAN Daily 