Police: Motorcyclist killed after evading traffic stop in Batavia

A motorcyclist was killed in a crash after evading a traffic stop Saturday evening in west suburban Batavia, according to police.

About 5:25 p.m. Saturday, an officer in a marked Batavia police squad car saw a motorcycle heading south on Kirk Road and traveling about 80 miles per hour in a 45 mph zone, according to a statement from Batavia police. The officer activated the squad car’s emergency lights and tried to pull the motorcycle over on Wind Energy Pass and Kirk Road.

After turning west onto Wind Energy Pass, the motorcyclist sped up and failed to stop at a stop sign at Wind Energy Pass and Wagner Road, police said. He kept going to the 1200 block of Wind Energy Pass, where the bike struck the rear driver’s side of a vehicle backing from the street into a driveway.

The motorcyclist, 31-year-old Joseph G. Graves, and his passenger, a 23-year-old woman, were ejected from the bike, police said.

Graves, of Batavia, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. An autopsy Monday found his preliminary cause of death was multiple injuries due to a motor vehicle mishap, according to the Kane County coroner’s office.

The woman was airlifted to Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, where she remained in critical condition Monday, police said.

The driver of the vehicle struck by the motorcycle was not injured.

Because of the Batavia police officer’s involvement in the crash, the Kane County sheriff’s office and Kane County Accident Reconstruction Team are handling the investigation, police said.