One of Tasmania's most senior police officers has been brought to tears as he reflected on reviewing two hours of police body-worn footage in the aftermath of the Hillcrest jumping castle incident.
Assistant Commissioner Adrian Bodnar gave evidence at the coronial inquest into the 2021 incident that killed six children.
Friday is the final day of the first block of hearings, with further sessions set for November and February.
A senior Tasmanian police officer who attended the Port Arthur shooting massacre in 1996 has told a coronial inquest into the deaths of six school children in a jumping castle incident that while the events were different, the trauma for police was the same.
Addison Stewart, Chace Harrison, Jye Sheehan, Jalailah Jayne-Maree Jones, Peter Dodt and Zane Mellor died and three of their classmates were seriously injured when a wind gust tossed a jumping castle across the school oval at an end-of-year celebration.
Assistant Commissioner Bodnar, a 36-year police veteran, compared the impact of the incident on police to the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, where 35 people died.
Counsel helping the coroner, Maree Norton SC, asked Assistant Commissioner Bodnar if he had comparisons to make between the two tragedies and the impact on police officers.
Assistant Commissioner Bodnar became choked up while recalling his experience attending Port Arthur.
In preparation for the inquest, Assistant Commissioner Bodnar said he reviewed about two hours of police body-worn footage.