GULF STREAM -- A town police officer allegedly turned his squad car into the path of oncoming bicyclists last week, sending five or six riders to the ground in a tangle of thousand-dollar racing bikes as they swerved to avert a crash, riders charged Thursday.

Paramedics treated several cyclists at the scene for badly scraped skin, and one, Mark Ridgeway, was taken to Bethesda Memorial Hospital for treatment for extensive road rash and back pain, the cyclists said.

Gulf Stream Police Chief Garrett Ward said another police agency was conducting an investigation into the incident. He said he could not comment further.

The cyclists were spinning south along A1A when, they say, a patrol car heading north abruptly turned left in front of lead rider John D'Agostino.

D'Agostino said he swerved to the side and avoided a collision with the police car, but the back riders couldn't get out of the way in time.

About 30 riders partake in the twice-weekly ride from Spanish River Boulevard to the Ritz-Carlton hotel, and back again every Tuesday and Thursday evening.

Most ride with a semi-professional team sponsored by MAPEI. As they wheeled south through Gulf Stream last week in a single-file line they were "going at a pretty good clip," MAPEI team member Jeff Fleming said -- about 30 mph. The posted speed limit is 35 mph.

"It's a good thing no other cars were around," D'Agostino, a Boca Raton resident, said. "It's pretty hard to knock us off our bikes. We usually can avoid things like that."

Fleming had scrapes, bruises and a sprained wrist and Ridgeway, who lives in Boca Raton, is undergoing physical therapy for neck and back pain, the cyclists' attorney, Alex Daszkal, said Thursday.

Daszkal said he's preparing to file a claim against the officer, whose name has not been released, and the town of Gulf Stream. Fleming said he plans to file a formal citizen's complaint against the officer.

Cyclists claim it's not the first time officers in Gulf Stream and other small coastal cities have harassed them. Patrol cars have cut them off before, slowing down in front of the pack, then speeding up again. But this was the first time anyone was hurt.

Hostility between cyclists and residents along the oceanfront highway has been fermenting as the state Department of Transportation develops plans to build bike lanes on parts of the road from Boca Raton to Palm Beach.

Gulf Stream residents and officials are adamantly opposed to widening the road, which wends through the town under a canopy of Australian pines. The invasive trees are protected in Gulf Stream by a state law, which will also prevent FDOT from widening the road there.

"They feel that the police department in Gulf Stream has a bad attitude and treats them poorly," Daszkal said. "The team feels like the town harasses them, does not welcome them and does not properly protect them in their rights on a state road."