Robert Machin was about to put his two dogs into his car after a walk in the Bronx, New York, when a strong tug on one of the leads spun him round.

His next sight was of Ginger, one of his Boston terriers, being sucked into a street-sweeping vehicle, yanking the lead out of his hand.

"It happened so fast. As I seen the dog, I tried to pull her back. But the machine had her," WABC-TV, a New York-based TV station, reported Mr Machin as saying. "We started yelling at the driver. Evidently he couldn't hear us."

Mr Machin, 57, chased the vehicle for two-and-a-half blocks before it stopped. It was not clear what speed the driver was travelling. Regulations limit such vehicles to a maximum of 10mph

"It was something awful to see, a little animal like that to get sucked up into the machine," said Mr Machin.

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