A witness describes seeing the car apparently swerve into a cycle lane to avoid another vehicle.
Two people have been killed and six injured after they were hit by a vehicle in New Orleans.
The victims were a man and a woman both aged about 30, while the injured range in age from 28 to 65, according to emergency services.
Five of those injured - a man, 56, two 28-year-old women, a man, 62, and a woman, 53 - were taken to hospital.
Three of them were critically wounded, local media reported.
The sixth person injured was a man, 65, who refused hospital treatment after the Saturday evening incident.
New Orleans Police Department said on Twitter that they had arrested Tashonty Toney, 32, in connection with the incident.
He is suspected of two counts of vehicular homicide and seven of vehicular negligent injury, hit and run, and reckless operation of a motor vehicle.
Fox reported that the night of the crash was Toney's 32nd birthday and officers said on Twitter: "It is believed Toney was impaired at the time of the incident."
A witness, Dane Barrymore, told The New Orleans Advocate that he had seen a dark sports car speeding down the street.
The driver had swerved into a cycle lane to avoid another vehicle, he said, adding: "It just happened there were people there - cyclists."
He saw the car hit two women and a man and, although he went to help, it was clear that the man and one of the women had not survived.
Mr Barrymore said the car continued down the street, hitting another vehicle and spinning out of control.
Another witness, Robert Miller, told The Times-Picayune that the vehicle had been "flying" as it "blew by us".
The incident happened just a few blocks from the Endymion parade, one of the city's biggest Mardi Gras parades.
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