Mother shares pain after daughter killed in wrong-way crash

Mother shares pain after daughter killed in wrong-way crash

“Nytaysha was bubbly and so smart," Porcher said. "There’s a pain in my heart that I’ve never experienced before. It doesn’t go away. It doesn’t feel like it eases. Like, this is a dream and I’m going to wake up from it, but it hasn’t happened.”

Porcher said Jones was in the car with her 28-year-old boyfriend Gabriel Hagood Sunday morning when they were killed in a wrong-way crash on Interstate 385. Porcher added the couple were on the way to pick up Hagood's 7-month-old baby.

“When someone decides to pull the trigger or someone stabs your kid, someone made a decision that they were going to do something that took your child’s life," Porcher said. "Your child did not die on their own.”

Since the beginning of December, seven people have been killed in four fatal wrong-way crashes in Greenville County.

The Greenville County Coroner's Office said three out of the last four fatal wrong-way crashes have involved some sort of impairment, but it's not yet known if impairment was involved in Jones' death.

Master Trooper Mitchell Ridgeway of South Carolina Highway Patrol said the best defense is responsible driving on the roads.

"Make sure you’re reading the signage before you enter the interstate and obey the laws," Ridgeway said. "Of course, if you’re a motorist and see a wrong-way driver, you want to safely pull out of the roadway and call 911."

Ridgeway added that calling 911 is the fastest way for law enforcement to stop any potential harm from a wrong-way driver.

“It can be a scary thing," Ridgeway said. "You have a two or 3,000-pound vehicle coming at you at interstate speeds, so it’s hard to say what you should do because every situation is probably a little different, but hopefully, you can move out of the way of that individual safely.”

Porcher said her daughter struggled with depression and was starting to overcome it before she died.

“As soon as she said, ‘You know, mom. I want to live. I want to live.’ My baby wanted to be here," Porcher said. "My baby wanted to be here, and for a long time, she didn’t want that, and so it hurts that much harder because she wanted to live and had so much life to her.”

Porcher said a balloon release in memory of her daughter is scheduled for Sunday afternoon.