Jayden Field death inquest hears taxi accelerated before teen exited

An inquest into the death of a Tasmanian teenager has heard a taxi accelerated before the young man got out.

Jayden Field died a week after hitting his head on Jindabyne Road at Kingston, south of Hobart, in 2013.

The 19-year-old followed three of his friends out of a maxi taxi while it was still moving.

On Thursday, crime scene investigator Kelly Cordwell told an inquest into the teenager's death that she had calculated the taxi was travelling at seven kilometres an hour when the first passenger got out but accelerated to between 41 and 48 kph by the time Mr Field got out.

Senior Constable Cordwell told the court the acceleration rate was minor, given the downhill gradient of the street.

The inquest also heard from Constable Shane Leek who arrived at the scene after recieving a report of people jumping out of a taxi.

He told the court he had spoken to Mr Field's friend and fellow passenger Jack Beadell at the scene.

He said Mr Beadell told him he followed one of his friends out of the taxi and it was only when he stepped out that he realised it was still moving.

Constable Leek said he questioned Mr Beadell about whether the boys had tried to avoid paying the fare by jumping.

"He appeared a bit nervous," he said.

"I don't know whether that was because of shock. He didn't answer me a definite yes or no answer."

Constable Leek said after he questioned the young man about the fare, Mr Beadell said he could pay it and handed cash to the taxi driver, Lopez Kimbinga, while saying: "I'm sorry".

The court also heard one of the other friends criticised the police investigation for focusing on the behaviour of the boys rather than the taxi driver's actions.

But Constable Leek told the court that police obtained details from the young men and taxi driver as they would with any other investigation.