D.C. authorities identified the man killed Friday in a crash between two electric scooter riders near Eastern Market as the director of the D.C. Mayor’s Office on Returning Citizen Affairs.
The high-profile fatal accident joins a growing list of harmful crashes and violent crimes involving micromobility devices throughout the District.
Metropolitan Police said Talib Shakir, 50, was knocked unconscious after another e-scooter rider collided with him around 6:45 p.m. Friday near the intersection of Eighth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue SE.
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He was taken to a hospital, where he died, police said. The other scooter rider, a woman, has been released from a hospital.
Mayor Muriel Bowser said Mr. Shakir’s death brought her “deep sadness” and commended his work helping ex-convicts reintegrate into society.
“Talib made the most of his second chance and dedicated himself to helping others do the same,” Ms. Bowser said. “He loved to mentor young people and to prove to them that their city believes in them. In Talib’s own words, his mission at [the Mayor’s Office on Returning Citizen Affairs] was clear: ensure returning citizens feel connected, valued and included in D.C.’s future.”
Mr. Shakir was convicted of a 1993 murder and released from prison in 2019.
In 2020, he landed a job as the deputy director for the Mayor’s Office of Community Relations and Services before taking over the office on returning citizens in December 2025.
Mr. Shakir’s death joins the list of deadly or harmful crashes involving electric scooter and electric bikes around the District.
Police said a 60-year-old man riding an e-bike died Sept. 25 after he was run over by a commercial vehicle near Logan Circle. Authorities identified him as Oludare Ayodele Adekoya.
A 59-year-old man died that week from injuries in an August e-bike crash with another cyclist near the corner of 15th and M streets NW.
Investigators said the fixed-gear cyclist ignored a red light and rode out into the intersection on Aug. 29, when e-bike rider David Watts crashed into him.
The collision threw both cyclists from their bikes. Watts died roughly a month later.
This summer, police said a 5-year-old boy riding an electric scooter was critically injured after a driver struck him in Southeast. The boy was riding the scooter in a parking lot in Ridgecrest Court on July 24, when a dark blue Nissan ran into him around 6:45 p.m.
The driver sped away, and the boy was rushed to a hospital, police said.
In June, police said Jayquan Alexander Sweat died after collision in which he lost control of his e-bike in Southeast. Sweat, 22, failed to navigate a bend in the road and hit a curb, which threw him into a metal trash can.
Metropolitan Police data shows the city has recorded 33 fatal crashes this year among motorists, cyclists and pedestrians, a 65% increase from the 20 at this point in 2025.
It’s unclear how many of those fatalities are tied to electric scooters and bikes, but the growth in micromobility transit options also has seen more of the devices used as getaway vehicles.
Last week, police reported four crimes on Wednesday and Thursday when suspects used e-bikes and e-scooters to flee a crime scene.
Authorities said two males linked to a Columbia Heights robbery left on a pink scooter with black wheels.
A group of six male juveniles tied to a Wednesday evening robbery near the National Archives raced away on Lime electric scooters, police said.
Two male suspects who fled on Veo electric bikes are being sought in a separate Cardozo robbery on Wednesday night.
And police said three men are connected to a robbery near the intersection of Minnesota Avenue and Benning Road NE, with one of the suspects seen leaving the area on a black scooter.
“We know that scooters and bicycles have been used in crimes,” interim Police Chief Jeffery Carroll said last week during a press conference. “Not only burglaries, we see them being used inside other types of crimes, robberies and shootings, and things like that.”
Chief Carroll said police stay in touch with rideshare companies, such as Lime or Veo, when their vehicles are used by criminals so they can try to identify the suspects.
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