Court Shown Moment Of Jai Wright’s Fatal Collision With Police Car

Dozens of loved ones and supporters of Dunghutti teenager, Jai Wright, who died after his bike hit an unmarked police car in inner Sydney, wept as footage was shown in court of the teenager’s death on Monday.

Benedict Bryant, 47, has pleaded not guilty to dangerous driving occasioning death and a related charge of negligent driving occasioning death following the 2022 crash in Eveleigh that killed the 16-year-old.

Wright’s supporters performed a smoking ceremony outside the Darlinghurst court in the morning, before filling every seat in the public gallery of the judge-only trial.

Crown prosecutor Philip Strickland, SC, told the NSW District Court police had been alerted to three young people who allegedly stole a trail bike and two other vehicles.

Two police officers saw the bike while getting coffee in Newtown at 7:30am, along with one of the stolen vehicles, and followed them in an unmarked car.

The officers confirmed via radio that they were not in pursuit because they believed the teenagers would not stop for them.

Strickland said that moments before the crash, Wright had “accelerated harshly” through a park before veering into a bike lane. The court was told he was travelling at an estimated 68km/h in a 40km/h zone.

Strickland showed the court CCTV footage of an intersection in Eveleigh where Wright’s bike can be seen continuing through the red light before hitting a an obstruction, sending him airborne.

Bryant had crossed the intersection and stopped near the end of the bike lane without his lights or sirens activated when the 16-year-old hit the front passenger side of Bryant’s police car, throwing him 15 metres through the air.

Some of Wright’s supporters, many of who were wearing shirts with the teenager’s face, left the courtroom before the footage was shown. An audible gasp was heard through the court at the moment of impact.

Defence argue another car created roadblock

Strickland said Bryant “effectively established a roadblock” by using his vehicle “as a form of barrier or obstruction, and he did so without authorisation and without reasonable grounds”.

“The Crown case is that objectively by placing his vehicle in the direct path of Jai’s vehicle, that was dangerous driving, because it risked a collision,” he said.

“As an experienced police officer with some 20 years of experience, the accused ought to have been aware of the potential danger.”

Defence counsel Brent Haverfield is arguing that the roadblock had been created by another unmarked police car, with Wright having to navigate around it and into a vehicle he couldn’t see.

In a statement to the Sydney Morning Herald, NSW Police confirmed  Bryant is still employed and “is currently being managed in the workplace”.

The trial continues and is expected to last the week.