A Cyclist's Lost Arm Becomes a Symbol of Reform in São Paulo

On March 9, several hundred ciclistas paulistas — bicycle riders in São Paulo, Brazil's largest city — took off their clothes and got on their bikes for the World Naked Bike Ride, the periodic, global joyride that has been called a "protest against everything." The Brazilian group had two particular concerns: the country's reliance on fossil fuels and the vulnerability of cyclists in São Paulo.

The next day, Sunday, scores of cyclists returned to the Avenida Paulista for a more somber demonstration, laying their bikes and their bodies in the street to stop traffic. That morning, David Santos de Souza, a young window washer on his way to work, had been hit by a car that ripped Souza's arm from his body. Alex Siwek, the 21-year-old psychology student behind the wheel, fled the scene with the severed limb attached to his vehicle before discarding it in a nearby creek and turning himself in to police.