PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY, Va. -- A 51-year-old bicyclist remains in intensive care at VCU Medical Center after he was targeted in what a witness called a "knockout game-style" attack.

The man was riding his bicycle on River Road near the Prince George County-Hopewell line at about 7:30 Sunday morning when a car came up from behind and slowed down, the bicyclist's friend said.

The friend, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, said someone in the car reached out and hit the bicyclist in the back with either his hand or an object. The bicyclist had time to yell for help before he veered off the road and collapsed.

The bicyclist had suffered a massive heart attack.

Doctors told the bicyclist's father-in-law the strike to the back put pressure on his heart which caused it to stop beating.

Fortunately for the bicyclist, a nurse drove by moments after the attack.

"She's checking for a pulse," the friend who witnessed the incident said. "She says 'he has no pulse, let's roll him over.' We roll him over and she starts chest compressions."

Prince George County Police are investigating the assault.

"They evidently had to slow down enough to pull up along side him and hit him," the witness friend said about the seemingly random attack.

The witness friend said the car involved was a dark colored Ford Taurus-type car. The victim was unable to provide a description of the people in the car.

"I would love to see them caught because next time they may kill somebody," the bicyclist's father-in-law said. "If they get away with it once, they'll do it twice."

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call Prince George County Crime Solvers at 804-733-2777.