When Dan Auderer was fired by Seattle Police Department’s interim chief following an investigation into an out-of-context joke made during a private conversation that was mistakenly recorded by his body-worn camera, he was blindsided. Under the previous police chief, the plan was to issue him a 30-day suspension. City lawyers were convinced there wasn’t enough to justify termination, and the decision was already being drafted. But after an investigation plagued by internal leaks, pressure from City Hall and activists, and a last-minute change in findings, interim chief Sue Rahr abruptly fired him. For the first time, he tells his side of what happened.