This is the moment a drink-driver ploughs through stalls at a cultural festival, killing three people and leaving behind a scene of carnage.
The incident took place in the town of Aratuba in the north-eastern Brazilian state of Ceara on the night of Saturday 2nd October.
According to the Department of Public Safety of Ceara, Jose Flavio Assis Gomes, 56, had been drinking alcohol before getting into his car and was speeding at the time of the incident.
After he came to a halt when he crashed against a parked SUV, crushing at least one victim, he was breathalysed and found to be over the legal limit, and was arrested at the scene.
The suspect was taken to the police station in the nearby town of Caninde where he reportedly remained silent during questioning. He was subsequently charged with aggravated murder.
Gomes ran over six people during the incident, three of whom later succumbed to their injuries in hospital.
The deceased have been named as Maria do Rosario de Assis Lima, 65; Maria Irene Rufino da Silva, 59; and Jose Alci Pereira de Assis, 55.
According to a witness, the police had to restrain people present at the scene to stop them from lynching the suspect in the immediate aftermath of the crash.
The mayor of Aratuba, Joerly Vitor, decreed five days of mourning for the victims on the morning of Sunday, 3rd October.
The Town Hall of Aratuba paid tribute to the victims on social media, writing: “Aratuba went to sleep in tears. We were shocked by the painful news of the loss of three people who were much loved in our town.”
Gomes will be held in preventive custody in the Public Prison of Caninde.
