Crime & Safety

Batavia Mom Describes Kirk Road Crash Scene

This Batavia resident saw the debris scattered on the street and the helicopter land to carry away the injured 40-year-old. Police continue to investigate the Saturday crash.

Editor's note: This story was updated Monday afternoon to reflect that the deceased is actually from Batavia.

The first thing Allison Cooper’s husband heard was the roar of motorcycle engines.

Then within 5 minutes, Cooper and her husband heard sirens.

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“They kept getting louder and louder,” Cooper said of the emergency vehicles.

The vehicles were heading to a near the Coopers' neighborhood on Batavia’s east side.

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A car heading north reportedly veered into the southbound lanes on Kirk Road north of Wind Energy Pass, according to a report. The car collided with three other vehicles.

In the end, a 48-year-old Batavia resident died. The person's 40-year-old passenger, also from Batavia, had to be airlifted to treatment. Four others were treated at the scene or transported.

It's not known whether the motorcycles heard were near the crash, but at least one other resident in the area heard them prior to the incident.

The Coopers later ended up with a view of the crash response during an afternoon bicycle ride. This is what they saw.

The Crash Scene

The Coopers rode their bikes onto the Illinois Prairie Path bridge that goes over Kirk Road. The crash site was south of the bridge, closer to the Kirk Road-Wind Energy Pass intersection. Police put it at about 700 ft. north of Wind Energy Pass in a report.

Cooper and her husband eventually got off the bridge and took the trail on the west side of Kirk Road south of the bridge. An emergency vehicle was parked on the bike trail closer to the crash.

Allison Cooper saw several emergency vehicles surround the cars that appeared to be involved in the crash. Most of the activity was on the southbound Kirk Road lanes.

“There was a lot of debris,” she said.

Cooper and her husband said three of the cars appeared to have the following makes and models:

  • Red Toyota Corolla
  • Black Ford F-150 Pickup Truck
  • A green station wagon, partially on the curb

The Coopers were not certain what the fourth vehicle was. That vehicle was being placed on a flatbed and driven away when they arrived.

The vehicle had damage to its front end.

It appeared to Cooper that two of the cars did collide head-on, possibly a driver's side of one car with a passenger side of another.

The black Ford F-150 was in the middle of the street and one of its ends was dented. Beyond that was the Corolla.

"The roof of the car had already been removed," Cooper said. "They were working on putting someone on the board to extricate them out of the car."

Two of the six patients at the scene had to extricated, according to the .

Helicopter Landing

The crash occurred shortly after 3 p.m., according to police. Sometime after 3:30 p.m., the LifeStar medical helicopter landed near the crash site.

"We saw it come in—we saw it circling," Cooper said.

Once the helicopter landed, a crew came around with a gurney.

Once the extrication was complete, the emergency crews escorted onlookers further away from the site.

Cooper saw a fire engine on the scene pull ahead and block the view of the crash site.

"At that point, there was nothing else to see," Cooper said.

Traffic In And Around

Once the Fermilab engine moved forward, it appeared to block a tow truck that was attempting to move away the green station wagon.

Cooper said there were cars on the road near the crash that could not or would not leave the scene.

“They just sat there and waited,” she said of the other cars.

of the crash site for more than three hours. Cars heading southbound on Kirk were rerouted to Giese Road westbound, then south on Larkspur Lane. Larkspur turns into Wagner Road, which then curves east and south to Wind Energy Pass.

On their way back home, the Coopers saw another tow truck headed to the crash site.

"Killer Kirk"

Saturday's crash was at least the second incident in that area of Kirk Road this year to require a significant rescue response, according to previous Batavia Patch reports.

On March 21, three people were transported for injuries in a roads.

Cooper said Kirk Road has a reputation for crashes. She recalled another serious crash in 2010 where someone was ejected from a vehicle.

"People don't pay attention, are speeding and there's no turn lanes," Cooper said. "I’ve lived in the area 26 years, and it has always been known as Killer Kirk."

Saturday's crash did not happen at a Kirk Road intersection, but residents say they continue to pose to a problem. Cooper said cars heading southbound on Kirk trying to take a right onto Pine Street or Chillem Drive could get rear ended.

"People behind you aren’t going to stop … or they are going to swerve around you real fast," she said.

It's also tricky for cars heading northbound on Kirk to take left turns onto neighborhoods streets.

"We never (go) to Giese to make a left," Cooper said. "We always make that left at Wind Energy Pass to take the back way home because there's a turn lane."

Cooper, like many in the area, await more answers to find out why Saturday's crash happened.

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To read our weekend report of the crash, click .


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