Harry Thomas Little was acquitted by a jury in his second trial of dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm after his police vehicle slammed into the driver side of Gai Vieira's Mercedes in September 2018.
The experienced officer had earlier entered a guilty plea to the lesser charge of negligent driving and is entitled to a discount of 25 per cent off his sentence.
Judge Sarah Huggett on Friday in the NSW District Court said there was no dispute that Little would not be serving prison time, and the issue was whether a criminal conviction should be recorded.
The judge said there had been no urgency for Little to catch up with a driver who would just have been ticketed for something "a spotter" had told him about.
The victim's husband Bert Vieira, who expressed his sadness after the first jury were unable to find a verdict, was not present on Friday and did not want to participate in any further proceedings, the court was told
His wife had been turning right onto Cronulla's six-lane Kingsway at the same time Little was in high-speed pursuit of a Volkswagen driver suspected of illegally using their mobile phone.
The crown case is that Little was not using his police siren or lights while driving at 133km/h weaving in and out of traffic.
Little testified that he did not want to "spook" other drivers with his siren, but did honestly believe he had activated his police lights.
"She might not have pulled out if the warning devices had been on," Judge Huggett said.
Straight after the crash, Little allegedly told his supervisor Sergeant Grant Howell that he didn't have a chance to turn on his lights as the woman appeared right in front of him and it happened so quickly, Sgt Howell wrote in his statement.
Little's defence rejected this alleged admission.
The Crown submitted at Little's sentence hearing that he should be convicted as he did not leave enough time to check whether he activated the "primary button" light switch.
Defence barrister Matthew Johnston SC asked the judge to weigh up the circumstances as Little was acting under a "statewide policing operation".
"The wisdom of that may well need to be something that needs to be reviewed," he said
He submitted Little had since suffered significant PTSD and depression following the crash, affecting his future employment.
According to one psychologist's report Little did not desire to remain in the police force, the court was told.
At his first trial, Little's defence said he was driving in a fully marked police vehicle and it was fair for the highway officer not to think someone would pull out in front of him across the roadway and then come to a "complete stop straddling two lanes".
Last year Mr Vieira outside court said his wife suffered from a permanent and severe disability, was wheelchair-bound, could not move her legs and arms and was fed through a tube in her chest.
"Now that's not fair."
Little is due to be sentenced on March 17.
