Indian student killed by Seattle police vehicle

Daughter to a single mother in India, Kandula was on track to receive a master’s in information systems this December

Jaahnavi Kandula, a 23-year-old Indian student at the Northeastern University campus in South Lake Union, was killed Monday night when a Seattle police officer traveling north hit her at an intersection, according to a media report.

Daughter to a single mother who teaches elementary school in Adoni, India, Kandula was on track to receive a master’s in information systems this December.

Police officers, and then responders from the Seattle Fire Department, attempted CPR on her but she died later that night, Seattle Times reported citing the King County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Read: Indian American killed in gas station armed robbery (January 23, 2023)

The Seattle Police Department said on Wednesday Kandula was crossing from east to west in the crosswalk when she was hit, but it has not offered additional details of the moments leading up to the incident, according to the newspaper.

“At this point in the investigation, we have no reason to believe the officer intended to hit that woman,” SPD spokesperson Detective Valerie Carson was quoted as saying.

Kandula was located by responding officers at 8 pm Monday and was taken to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition, SPD said in an online blotter post at about 11:30 pm Monday.

Kandula’s uncle, Ashok Mandula, said he and his wife got the call in their Houston home Monday night. When Kandula first traveled to the United States in 2021, she spent a month with them.

“I was in shock,” Mandula said of hearing the news. They booked a flight to Seattle that night and are now in the city, working to transport the body back to India.

Kandula from Adoni, Andhra Pradesh, was daughter to a single mother who teaches elementary school there and had one sister. Her mother had taken on financial debt so that Kandula could travel to the United States and earn her master’s, Mandula was quoted as saying.

“Her priority was to help her family,” he said of Kandula’s motives for coming to the United States. With her death, Mandula and his family set up a GoFundMe page to help unburden Kandula’s mother. As of Wednesday afternoon, it had raised over $72,000.

In a message to students sent Wednesday, the dean of Northeastern’s Seattle campus, David Thurman, said, “Jaahnavi is remembered as a stellar student and a delightful and effervescent human being. She was a close friend to many and friends shared that they loved her bubbly laugh, sense of humor and infectious personality. “Her loss will be felt deeply by students, staff, and faculty across campus,” he said.

When he arrived in Seattle, Mandula visited the intersection, just several blocks from the university campus, where Kandula was killed. It seemed dark to him — a “blind spot,” he said.

Read: 23-year-old Indian student from Andhra Pradesh dies after being struck by police vehicle in US (January 26, 2023)

Mayor Bruce Harrell called the incident “horrible and tragic” in a statement Wednesday and said the city would investigate the circumstances leading to Kandula’s death. “Our public safety strategies must include ensuring our streets and sidewalks are safe for all users,” he said.

Councilmember Andrew Lewis, whose district includes South Lake Union, expressed his “extreme condolences” to the family and said the city needs to redouble its efforts to reach its goal of zero traffic deaths.