Family of Black Man Run Over and Killed by Bus Demands Accountability

The family of Chibeza Dudley Nyirenda, a 28-year-old Riverside resident, is demanding answers and accountability after filing a $28,585,000 Government Claim against the Riverside Transit Agency in connection with his death.

On November 12, 2025, at approximately 4:00 p.m., Chibeza was attempting to board a public bus at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Chicago Avenue — a stop near his home and part of his daily routine. Instead of arriving safely at his destination, he was struck and run over by the very system meant to transport him.

Chibeza was not acting recklessly. He was not engaged in dangerous behavior. He was doing what working people do every day — trying to get where he needed to go.

At the time of the incident, he was on the phone with his mother, Marjorie Bradford-Nyirenda. She heard her son’s final words before the call suddenly went silent. Those words were, “I love you.”

Earlier that morning, Chibeza had donated blood — a reflection of who he was: generous, engaged, connected to his community. He lived with his mother, contributed to his household, and had plans for his future. His life was not in crisis. It was in motion.

The claim alleges that the bus was operated without adequate regard for a boarding passenger and cites failures in operation, supervision, training, safety enforcement, and transit procedures. The bus operator was acting within the scope of employment with Riverside Transit, an agency operating under the authority of the County of Riverside.

“A boarding passenger is vulnerable by definition,” said family counsel Carl Douglas with Douglas Hicks Law. “Public transit carries a heightened responsibility because people trust it with their lives. That trust was broken.”

For Black communities, access to safe and reliable public transportation is not a luxury — it is a lifeline. Jobs, school, medical appointments, and daily responsibilities depend on systems functioning safely and equitably. When those systems fail, the consequences are devastating.

This filing is the first required legal step before pursuing a civil lawsuit against a public entity under California law. The family intends to seek full accountability and systemic change to ensure that no other family experiences this preventable loss.

Chibeza Dudley Nyirenda was more than a headline. He was a son. A neighbor. A donor. A young Black man whose life mattered.