On the last Friday of every month, hundreds of bike riding enthusiasts take to the streets for Critical Mass in Porto Alegre, Brazil to raise awareness of cycling in a city dominated by motor vehicles — but at their most recent event, the unthinkable happened. As the lively group of cyclists pedaled together down the street, one disgruntled motorist decided to accelerate through the crowd, running down dozens of riders in a disturbing hit-and-run.

Miraculously, considering the speed with which the car plowed into the riders, no one was killed, but over a dozen had to be treated for their injuries. According to Brazilian media, the driver fled the scene and abandoned his car.

Update: The driver of the car has been identified as Ricardo José Neis. He expected to turn himself in to police on Monday, Feb 28th. 3/1: Driver who hit cyclists indicted for attempted murder

From the organizers blog:

Yesterday, as on every last Friday of the month Critical Mass was held, which is a manifestation of what happens in the world when cyclists seek space in traffic, to raise awareness that we ARE PART of the traffic. Bicycles are a self-sustainable, less expensive, and environmentally friendly alternative, even if they’re commonly associated with leisure and recreation.

But what happened yesterday was beyond any expectation we could have had. A driver / killer ran over our group of cyclists. What happened was very scary, and I did not understand what was happening, because we could hear screams and the sound of people falling on the ground, the sound of bodies in the hood, windshield, on the asphalt. I saw legs in the air, helmets, bicycles, arms, all mixed together with parts of the car… all flying and making noise. It was like a horror movie.

Read the rest of this story at treehugger.com