Police officer avoids jail over Indigenous teenager's collision death

Benedict Bryant will serve an intensive corrective order. (ABC News: Simon Amery)

Police officer Benedict Bryant has avoided jail over a fatal collision that killed an Indigenous teenager in inner Sydney in 2022.

Bryant was ordered to serve an intensive corrective order and 500 hours of unpaid community service work.

Jai Kalani Wright, 16, died in hospital after suffering serious head injuries when the motorbike he was riding collided with an unmarked police car.

A NSW Police officer convicted over a fatal collision that killed an Indigenous teenager has avoided time behind bars.

Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this story contains the image of a person who has died.

Benedict Bryant was sentenced on Friday to two years' imprisonment, to be served as an intensive corrective order and 500 hours of unpaid community service work.

Bryant was found guilty of dangerous driving occasioning death in November last year.

Legal experts and First Nations advocates said it was the first time a police officer had been convicted in relation to a death in custody of an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person.

Jai Kalani Wright, 16, died in hospital after suffering serious head injuries when the motorbike he was riding collided with an unmarked police car in inner Sydney in February 2022.

Police said the bike was stolen along with a car, both of which had been spotted by officers nearby before the incident.

Jai Wright's father Lachlan (left) says he's relieved the case is over. (ABC News: Jamie McKinnell)

Jai Wright's father, Lachlan Wright, said the case showed "something went terribly wrong".

"Relieved that it's over is the best way to describe it," he said.

"This has been a long, long journey .. it's a hard day because you go through a lot of memories of Jai so to have family support is very important and that's what got us through all that.

"It [the judgement] was about some kind of … to close things off you know. We've lost our son, nothing can ever bring that back."

Jai Wright was 16 years old when he died in hospital after suffering head injuries in a collision with an unmarked police car. (Supplied.)

Speaking outside court, Bryant's lawyer, Paul McGirr, said the decision "didn't pass the pub test" and that they would appeal.

"I don't want to add grief to the family a life has been lost but that life could have been spared," he said.

"As I said and I'm not trying to rub salt into the wounds, if people were at home … we wouldn't be here."

At the final sentence hearing, Judge Jane Culver told the packed c