POLICE have laid charges after an incident on Phillip Island, at about 12 noon on Friday, November 22 where a police car was extensively damaged after allegedly being intentionally crashed into on Phillip Island Road.
A police highway patrol unit was working in the Newhaven area when they detected an allegedly stolen vehicle speeding in an 80km/h zone.
The officers intercepted the vehicle in the carpark at Forrest Caves where the driver allegedly provided a false name before driving off, performing a U-turn and driving toward the police vehicle.
The police officers were forced to take evasive action, but their patrol car was struck and extensively damaged.
Police members were not injured.
But there were significant delays, of up to an hour, on Phillip Island Road, with cars, trucks and buses backed up for kilometres in both directions, while the scene was cleared.
The offending vehicle, a white Landcruiser tray ute, towing a trailer with a four-wheel motorbike on board, ended up in a grass drain on the side of the road and the driver was arrested.
It has been reported that the vehicle may have been stolen from a Phillip Island farming property, where the offender has smashed through a shed to get away with the car. He has allegedly driven to Bass, where he stole fuel before returning to Phillip Island where he was picked up by police.
The 27-year-old man, of no fixed address, has been charged with putting police at aggravated and intentional risk of injury by driving and other driving offences.
He has been remanded to appear in Latrobe Magistrates’ Court on February 21, 2025.
