A MAN woke from a nap after his Sunday lunch to come face to face with a suspected drug taker who had fled from a crashed car.

On Sunday afternoon Keir Ansell, 31, witnessed a scene better suited to an American cop show than leafy Burgess Hill.

At 6.10pm, two men had abandoned their car before setting off on foot down Gatehouse Lane, leaving behind a Ford Fiesta that had crashed through a hedge, trees and a wooden barrier and then running across the A273 before coming to a stop on the kerb on the other side of the road.

The pair then attempted to break into Mr Ansell’s next door neighbour’s garden via the side gate after throwing their car keys - which they decided to take with them - over the gate.

After realising they couldn't get into the garden, the bungling duo ran back out to the road.

The police then arrested two men, one of them becoming so aggressive that officers sat on him until a van came to take him away.

Mr Ansell said: “It happened right outside our front gate. It was a bit weird.

“We’d just finished our Sunday lunch, so we were in a bit of a food coma.

“I went outside and the bloke was throwing abuse at me, at the police, at anyone he could.

“He kept telling me he was going to burn my house down, but the police were great and just stayed sat on him until the police van came to take him away.

“I suppose it’s probably something a bit different for them to deal with on a Sunday afternoon.

“I’ve been living here 18 years, and nothing like this has happened before. It was surreal.”

A 24-year-old man from Newhaven was arrested on suspicion of driving a vehicle whilst unfit through drugs, failing to stop after a road accident and using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

The second man was de-arrested following treatment in hospital.

A Sussex Police spokesman said: “A passing driver and people living locally went to assist, but the two men in the car refused help and left the scene.

“They were followed by a member of the public who reported their location to police.

“They were taken to hospital for treatment to minor injuries before being taken into custody.”