The family of a Kamilaroi teenager who died while being followed by police have spoken of their heartbreak twenty years on from his death.
Thomas 'TJ' Hickey became impaled on a metal fence after he crashed his BMX bike in the inner Sydney suburb of Waterloo on February 14 2004.
He died in hospital the following day from his injuries.
On Wednesday, around 100 people gathered at the site of his death to remember the 17-year-old, and renew their calls for justice.
"That’s why we’re here marching today," Gail Hickey, TJ's mother, told NITV.
"I’ve got to fight 'til I get justice."
Reflecting on the two decades since her son died, Ms Hickey, who was accompanied by TJ's sisters, became emotional.
"I'm really upset," she said through tears.
"It breaks my heart that he’s not here with us any more."
Calls for an inquiry ignored
Mr Hickey's family maintain that questions surrounding TJ's death remain unanswered.
A 2004 coronial inquest declared the teenager's passing a 'freak accident'.
At the heart of the investigation lay the question of whether Mr Hickey was being 'followed' or 'pursued' by police at the time of his crash.
Despite the vehicle trailing him down a side street, coroner John Abernathy found the police involved were not responsible for TJ's crash.
His family continued to seek answers via a NSW parliamentary inquiry.
, called the inquest "incomplete" and requested a review of the events before and after TJ's death.
"TJ's family still don't know how and why he died ... the police investigation was inadequate [and] TJ's death represents the pain and absence of justice that so many Aboriginal families experience in the criminal justice system," read the petition, which was presented on behalf of the family by Greens senator David Shoebridge.
Then-attorney general Mark Speakman noted the petition, but an inquiry was never initiated.
"I am advised the Coroner's inquest was thorough and explored all the issues surrounding death of TJ Hickey," he wrote in a November 2019 reply.
