Jaahnavi Kandula was killed in a road accident on January 22, 2023.
Bharat Rasthra Samithi leader and former Telangana minister KT Rama Rao expressed outrage over a US court dropping criminal charges against the cop who ran over an Indian student last year. Jaahnavi Kandula, a promising Master's student from Andhra Pradesh, was hit by a speeding police vehicle driven by Seattle police officer Kevin Dave on January 23, 2023. The court's recent decision not to pursue criminal charges against Officer Dave has sparked renewed public outcry.
In a scathing response, KTR denounced the outcome as "disgraceful & absolutely unacceptable." He called upon the US Ambassador, Eric Garcetti, to intervene and address the matter with US government authorities, urging them to deliver justice to Jaahnavi Kandula's grieving family.
"I demand the US Ambassador Eric Garcetti to take up the matter with US Government authorities and deliver justice to the family of young Jaahnavi Kandula," KTR said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Expressing concern over the lack of accountability, KTR also appealed to India's External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar, to intervene diplomatically. "I request EA Minister S Jaishankar Ji to take up the matter with his counterpart & demand an independent investigation into the matter. It is tragic that the life of a a youngster with soaring ambitions has been cut short but what's more tragic is the callous disregard for justice to the victim," he wrote.
Jaahnavi Kandula's tragic death occurred when she was crossing a street in Seattle, with Officer Dave driving at an alarming speed of 74 mph (more than 119 km/h) on the way to a drug overdose call. Ms Kandula was thrown 100 feet when she was struck by the police patrol vehicle.
In bodycam footage released by the Seattle Police Department in September last year, Dave's colleague and officer Daniel Auderer, who was dispatched to assist with the fatality collision, was heard laughing about the deadly crash.
The King County Prosecuting Attorney cited a lack of "sufficient evidence" as the reason for not pursuing criminal charges, leaving Officer Dave without legal repercussions.