Police seeking driver who ran over Gaucho 16 cyclists
PORTO ALEGRE
The Civil Police try to identify the driver responsible for the collision of 16 people who participated in a bike ride last night in Porto Alegre.
The car involved, a black Golf, was located overnight by military police at about 4 km from the site of the collision. The vehicle is defective, was abandoned, police said, and will be submitted to the skill.
Video shows cyclists after being hit in Porto Alegre; see
At about 19h of yesterday, about 130 members of a group called Critical Mass, which holds a monthly ride to promote bicycle use for transportation, pedaled down the street José do Patrocinio, in Lower Town (central region) . In the group there were children.
Trampling
The driver of the black Golf urged passage through the middle of the bike, which was denied for lack of space on the street, according to a report of cyclists.
The victims say the suspect sped up and honked for three blocks and the car got to play one of the bikes that were in the rear of the group.
In the third quarter, on the corner of Rua Luiz Afonso, according to reports gathered by the Leaf, the driver of the Golf hoped that the group moves away a few meters, accelerated and plowed into the group of cyclists.
INJURED AND BICYCLE Twisting
Reports are that flew bikes, cyclists have collided with each other and many people fell to the ground injured. The driver fled the scene.
"A lot of people, including parents with children in car seats. Trampling was intentional because he was several blocks behind, speeding, cursing, honking. After he passed, it became a scene of war, twisted bicycles and lots of people bleeding on the floor" , told the Folha Guidoux businessman Marcelo Kalil, 31, who belonged to the group.
Three ambulances were on site. Sixteen people were injured in the counting group. Part of them was answered on the spot and eight others were taken to hospital with injuries ranging from cuts to fractures.
SEARCH FOR SUSPECT
Police did not confirm the exact number of victims. The car owner has been identified, but he has not yet been heard, according to the officer Marcio de Abreu Moreno.
The sheriff says he'll wait for the conclusion of the testimony of victims and witnesses to decide how the case will be treated under criminal law.
If police confirm allegations that the trampling was intentional, the driver can account for aggravated assault (intentional) or even attempted murder.
"It's a case that attracted attention mainly because it was a group that was manifested by the use of bicycles as an alternative in traffic," the delegate said.
PROTEST
After the accident, others who participated in the walk remained in place and protested against insecurity cyclists.
The newspaper "Zero Hora" reported that the director of EPTC (Corporation for Public Transportation and Circulation), Vanderlei Cappellari, said the agency was not warned about the bike ride - you may become irregular.
The sheet can not find Cappellari. Members of the "Critical Mass" responded that the activity is monthly - held on the last Friday of the month - and that cyclists have a right to move together through the streets.
