PITTSTON, Maine — Tragedy struck as members and friends of the Exiles Motorcycle Club gathered on Saturday to honor the club’s fallen road captain and his wife when a member of the funeral procession died in a crash, Kennebec County Sheriff Ryan Reardon said Monday.
“The club, the Exiles, was on a funeral procession … they were heading south on Route 27 and Mr. Christopher Graham, 50, of Farmington had fallen behind and was trying to catch up,” Reardon said. “He came up behind the procession at too fast of a speed and he ended up laying down the bike and striking a pickup truck” that was part of the procession. “It was instant,” the sheriff said of Graham’s death.
Members of the Exiles, which bills itself as the oldest motorcycle club in Maine, gathered on Saturday for a memorial service for Antonio and Alice Balcer, both 47, who were killed at their Pine Knoll Road home in Winthrop on Oct. 31. The couple’s son, Andrew Balcer, 17, has been charged with their murders. No details about how they died have been released, but it was learned at Andrew Balcer’s plea hearing at the Capital Judicial Center in Augusta on Thursday that the probable cause affidavit would be released in two months.
Graham was driving a 2006 Harley Davidson motorcycle and was the lone person on the motorcycle when he crashed into the truck. The procession was heading to a clubhouse used by the Exiles in Pittston that is located on Route 27, Reardon said. Sgt. Galen Estes is handling the accident, which is being reconstructed, the sheriff said.
“There is an ongoing investigation but there was no reason to believe alcohol or drugs were involved,” Reardon said of the fatal motorcycle crash. “It was really tragic when they were trying to honor their friends.”