Police did not want to pursue charges against a sergeant accused of dangerous driving after an Indigenous teen riding a stolen trail bike hit an unmarked car and died, the officer's lawyer says.
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Benedict Bryant was behind the wheel when Jai Kalani Wright rode the bike into the police vehicle in inner-city Sydney on February 19, 2022.
The 16-year-old was thrown off his bike and suffered critical head injuries, dying at Prince Alfred Hospital the following day.
On Thursday, Bryant's lawyer Paul McGirr appeared before Downing Centre Local Court, where he said the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions had acted alone in electing to prosecute the officer.
"Police aren't touching it for reasons I won't go into on the record," he told Magistrate Susan Horan.
The 46-year-old faces one count of dangerous driving occasioning death and a backup count of negligent driving occasioning death.
In March, Mr McGirr told the court his client would plead not guilty to both charges.
Speaking outside court on Thursday, the solicitor said that while his client was back at work, having the charges hanging over his head was very stressful.
"We very much stand by the fact that he was executing his job to the best of his ability and has done nothing wrong," Mr McGirr told AAP.
"The police ... looking at this carefully didn't want to proceed with charges."
Mr McGirr, who is a former police officer and prosecutor, added that he did not know why the DDP had chosen to run up the charges, but he shook his head at the decision.
The DPP declined to comment on the case when contacted for a response.
The court earlier heard that Bryant and his legal team had been served an extensive 3000-page brief of evidence.
Ms Horan granted prosecutors a two-week adjournment after being told the brief had to be "sanitised" to hand to the team that would proceed with the matter.
The case will return to court on May 30.
At a January inquest into the teenager's death, NSW State Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan heard the bike Jai was riding had been stolen, along with a black Mercedes and a white BMW, about 7am on the day of the collision.
CCTV and in-car video footage played to the coroner's court showed an unmarked silver Holden Commodore sedan swing around in front of the bike, which then hit the police car at high speed.
Ms O'Sullivan ultimately suspended the inquest and referred the matter to the DPP to consider charges.
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Australian Associated Press
