Seattle Officer Daniel Auderer off patrol duty after laughing about death of woman fatally hit by police SUV

A Seattle police officer and union leader under investigation for laughing and making callous remarks about the death of a woman from India who was struck by a police SUV has been taken off patrol duty, police said.

The Seattle Police Department confirmed Thursday that traffic Officer Daniel Auderer "has been administratively reassigned to a non-operational position," The Seattle Times reported. The reassignment comes a week after one police watchdog group called for Auderer to be suspended without pay. It wasn't immediately clear when Auderer was taken off traffic duty and reassigned.

Auderer, who is vice president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, has been under investigation since a recording from his body camera was released that depicts him laughing and joking during a phone call with union President Mike Solan. The call happened in the hours after another officer, Kevin Dave, in his police SUV struck and killed 23-year-old student Jaahnavi Kandula as she was crossing a street on Jan. 23.