A court finding that a police officer's dangerous driving killed an Aboriginal teenager has been hailed as a watershed moment for Indigenous rights.
Benedict Bryant, 47, was found guilty on Friday of dangerous driving occasioning the death of Dunghutti teen Jai Kalani Wright in February 2022 in an inner-Sydney suburb.
Wright was riding a stolen trail bike when Bryant parked his unmarked police car at the end of a bike path he knew the teen was riding down at speed.
Judge Jane Culver ruled Bryant should have known that placing his car there without its lights and sirens activated could have caused a collision that posed a serious risk to the 16-year-old.
After colliding with the car, Jai was thrown off the bike and suffered critical head injuries, dying at Prince Alfred Hospital the following day.
Bryant's verdict likely marks the first time a serving police officer has been found guilty for the death of an Indigenous person in custody or a police operation in NSW, the state Aboriginal Legal Service said after the ruling.
"There is a particular lack of accountability for police who cause harm to Aboriginal people," principal legal officer Nadine Miles said.
"The conviction of Benedict Bryant breaks with this trend and is an important step in the right direction."
However, Bryant's lawyer, himself a former police officer, decried Judge Culver's decision, saying he would appeal at the first opportunity and blaming the tragic death on the victim's actions.
"(The incident) could have been avoided if everyone was at home and in bed, like they should be," Paul McGirr told reporters outside court in reference to the 7.20am collision.
"It's a bigger problem that's in the community in respect to youth out on the streets doing things they shouldn't do."
No evidence pointed to the sergeant intending to injure or kill the teenager but the judge found a person of his experience should have known creating the obstacle would pose a danger.
She found Bryant was aware a police direction had been given, stating the young man was not to be chased while on the trail bike.
Bryant also failed to consider how other parked cars in the intersection would have impacted the boy's ability to see the police car in his path, Judge Culver found.
Bryant stated in his police interview he believed the teenager was travelling between 40 and 50km/h, when he decided to move his car to the end of the bike path.
Jai was in fact travelling about 68km/h.
But that misjudgment did not absolve his actions.
"(Bryant) knew or ought to have known that any estimate of speed was inherently unreliable," Judge Culver said.
"A road user in the position of the deceased may not stop just because a vehicle is placed in their way."
More than 40 members of the teenager's family packed the Darlinghurst court room, with dozens of others filling an overflow room.
There were gasps and tears as the judge revealed her verdict while Bryant sat with his head bowed and eyes closed for most of the proceedings.
Jai's father Lachlan Wright said outside court he hoped the verdict could mark a reset of relations between police and First Nations people.
"If things can change in the future, in regards to relationships between Aboriginal people in this country and the police force, maybe this won't happen again," he said.
Bryant walked from court on bail after the Crown declined to make a detention application.
He will return for sentencing on April 17.
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