An unlicensed driver crashed into a police officer, causing serious injuries, while trying to evade capture in a stolen car, police say.
The senior constable, 42, was struck while deploying tyre spikes on a road at Gosford on the NSW Central Coast on Boxing Day in an attempt to stop the vehicle.
The crash broke his leg, some facial bones, and punctured a lung. He is being treated in Royal North Shore Hospital, where he was flown on Monday in a stable condition.
Three occupants of the car were arrested on Monday afternoon, leading to a Toronto man, 24, being formally accused of being behind the wheel.
He faces eight charges including aggravated dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm, failing to stop in a police pursuit and failing to stop and assist after an impact causing grievous bodily harm.
He was refused bail ahead of a bail court hearing on Tuesday.
The passengers were released pending further inquiries.
Police say the car had been stolen days earlier in Albury, and was pursued near Gosford after its occupants fled a service station without paying for petrol.
They say the highway patrol officer was hit about 9.20am, after the pursuit was stopped on safety grounds.
The driver and passengers stopped the car a few hundred metres up the road and fled into nearby bushland.
