Fired Seattle cop files $20M tort complaint against city

Weeks after being terminated as a Seattle police officer, Daniel Auderer has filed a $20 million tort complaint against the city of Seattle for damages.

SEATTLE - Weeks after being terminated as a Seattle police officer, Daniel Auderer has filed a $20 million tort complaint against the city of Seattle for damages.

In 2023, Auderer was caught on body camera joking and laughing about the death of a student fatally struck by a patrol car.

The incident stems from a conversation accidentally caught on body camera between Auderer — who is also the vice president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) — and SPOG president Mike Solan. Auderer is heard on video joking and laughing about 23-year-old Jaahnavi Kandula, a student who was hit and killed by a Seattle Police patrol car that was speeding through South Lake Union in response to a high-priority call.

Interim chief Sue Rahr fired Auderer in July.

In the complaint, Auderer says in part, "Seattle PD leaked false information concerning wrongfully initiated disciplinary proceedings as well as my personal information."

He also argues he was wrongfully terminated, in part due to his union leadership role.

The controversial conversation catapulted Auderer into the global spotlight. In the past, Auderer says the conversation was taken out of context. He claims he was not laughing at Kandula's death, but instead mocking how attorneys would try to put a value on her life.

Auderer had a chance to give his side to Rahr before she made the decision to fire him.

A statement released by Rahr said:

"At the root of this case lies an extremely difficult judgment call of how to fairly balance ‘intent versus impact.’"

Rahr notes that, despite the "gallows humor" nature of their jokes, the fact that the body cam video became part of public record has done "immeasurable damage to the public trust of police in the Seattle community, across the nation, and around the world."

The interim chief argues that Auderer's intent does not outweigh the impact on public perception of SPD, Kandula's family and others.

"The actions [of] this individual police officer have brought shame on the Seattle Police Department and our entire profession, making the job of every police officer more difficult," wrote Rahr.