Demonstrators in Seattle have demanded the resignation of two police officers over the death of a student from India and callous remarks by one of them.
“I think this has galvanized people because it’s so blatant and disrespectful to put a value on a human's life at $11,000," Patricia Hunter, co-chair of the Community Police Commission, said in an interview Friday."And it galvanizes people to see that the culture at Seattle Police Department has some issues that need to be immediately addressed.”
The Consulate General of India in San Francisco tweeted that it has taken the “deeply troubling” matter up with authorities in Seattle and in Washington, D.C., and that it wants a thorough investigation and action against those involved. Newspapers in India have been following the case.“We are aware of, and are disturbed by, what was said about Ms. Kandula’s death in the bodycam footage recently released by the Seattle Police Department,” the State Department said.
A city watchdog agency is investigating after a body-worn camera captured one Seattle Police Department union leader joking with another following the death of a woman who was struck and killed by a police cruiser as she was crossing a street. But the union noted that the bodycam footage captures only Auderer's side of the conversation: “There is much more detail and nuance that has not been made public yet.”