Man fleeing Wiltshire crash scene attacked by emus

The Malmesbury Animal Sanctuary is home to several animals, including emus

A driver who fled the scene of a crash was attacked by a group of emus after climbing into their field.

A truck hit a shop in the centre of Malmesbury in Wiltshire at lunchtime on Monday.

Chef Dean Wade gave chase when two people left the truck and escaped on foot.

Mr Wade says he then saw the driver being attacked by a group of emus after he climbed into their field.

Wiltshire Police said the driver of the pick-up truck had been arrested on suspicion of failing to stop, dangerous driving and causing actual bodily harm.

He remains in custody and the passenger, who was also arrested, has been released.

The impact of the vehicle destroyed the shop-front, but fortunately the building was empty.

Both the driver of the truck and his passenger were arrested

Mr Wade, executive chef at the nearby Old Bell Hotel, said: "There was this massive screeching and we saw a car careering left, right and centre and then it smashed into a building. It was horrible."

He went over to help, but said the two occupants ran off.

"I thought it wasn't fair people could just walk away from that kind of incident, so I decided to follow them," added Mr Wade.

Mr Wade said the chase carried on across the town for 15 minutes.

Dean Wade, executive chef at the Old Bell Hotel

The chase came to an end, Mr Wade said, at the border of the Malmesbury Animal Sanctuary, where a range of exotic animals are cared for.

"One of them went into the field, and tried to be a bit aggressive towards the emus," he said.

"The emus were curious and they started pecking away at him, which he didn't take to. Then he ran off.

"About 20 minutes later the police helicopter was out, and they picked him up."

The sanctuary declined to be interviewed but confirmed all its emus were unharmed and said they are "wonderful creatures".

The truck was left embedded in the building