Police investigating after fatally burned man found on roadside

The death of a man who was found with extensive injuries on the side of a road in NSW's Lake Macquarie area is being treated as suspicious.

A sacked New South Wales police officer has lost appeal over his dismissal. Source: AAP

Police are investigating the death of a man who was found with fatal burns on the side of a NSW road.

Wade Still, a 23-year-old from Lake Macquarie, was discovered by a taxi driver badly burned, laying in grass on the road side at Whitebridge near Newcastle at about 01:00 on Monday.

The driver called emergency services and Still was airlifted to Royal North Shore Hospital but died during the flight.

Still had recently been released from prison after being jailed for assaulting paramedics, AAP understands.

The young father was jailed last September for punching and kicking emergency workers who were trying to take his partner to hospital as she entered labour.

Still's partner Paige Millan said she woke to a phone call from one of his friends early on Monday.

A taxi driver found the man with extensive burn injuries by the side of Oakdale Road in Newcastle. Source: Google Maps

"His poor kids are going to be broken," she told media in Newcastle on Monday.

"I want (the culprit) to come forward and pay for what you've done."

Police spent Monday searching the area for a weapon and Strikeforce Yaraandoo has been established to investigate.

"We're certainly not treating this as a casual event and the inclusion of the Lake Macquarie command, homicide squad and Newcastle city reflects the gravity we are taking," Superintendent Danny Sullivan told reporters on Monday.

Police are investigating several lines of inquiry and are not ruling anything in or out, he added.

"The real key message here is that anybody with any information, no matter how small, to contact crime stoppers."