Family mourns devoted Charlotte mom killed in wrong-way wreck with CATS bus on I-77
Aliyah Key spent countless hours reading to her toddler daughter and son, teaching them colors, numbers and the alphabet to prepare them for kindergarten, her stepmom said.
Key was a stellar student who graduated early from Harding High in Charlotte when she was just 17, Taka Morris said, and she wanted her children to likewise succeed.
A charismatic “daddy’s girl,” Key became instant family with everyone she met, Morris said.
“She made everyone feel like they were the most important person in the world,“ Morris recalled.
Aliyah Sherril Key was 24 when she died on Feb. 20 in a wrong-way wreck with a Charlotte Area Transit System bus in the Interstate 77 toll lanes, leaving her family, friends and police wondering still why it happened.
Out with friends
Morris, who lives in Fort Mill, said family members know only that her stepdaughter was out with friends earlier on the night she died.
“We believe she was going back home, because she was scheduled to work the next day,” Morris said.
Key worked from home as a customer service rep for a call center, Morris said. She handled calls mainly from Bank of America clients for the Tennessee-based call center.
Key drove nearly 4 miles in the wrong direction on two interstates before a CATS bus hit and killed her just before 2 a.m. near the Sunset Road exit, State Highway Patrol Trooper Ray Pierce said.
She entered I-277 at the “very well lit” South Boulevard ramp and drove the entire I-277 loop the wrong way before entering the toll lanes in the wrong direction despite bold red “Wrong Way” signs, the trooper said.
‘Desolate’ interstates
No one called 911, Pierce said, because no one else was likely on the highways at that hour, he said. A 10 p.m. statewide COVID-19 curfew was in effect, keeping most all drivers off the road at that hour. “It would have been pretty desolate,” he said.
Pre-pandemic, many drivers would have been on the highways and most certainly would have called 911, Pierce said.
Drivers who enter a ramp or highway the wrong way quickly realize the error when they see that all of the signs are backwards, Pierce said.
Such drivers quickly pull to the side of the ramp and make a U-turn when traffic is clear, he said.
The only time they don’t is when they’re impaired, according to the trooper.
Rash of wrong-way drivers
About 3 1/2 years ago, troopers investigated the deaths of four wrong-way drivers in separate crashes on I-485, Pierce said.
Three of the drivers were impaired by alcohol or another drug, according to the trooper. The fourth was a man in his 80s who was cognitively impaired, Pierce said.
As of Thursday, the State Highway Patrol hadn’t received toxicology reports from a state lab that would show Key’s blood-alcohol content, according to Pierce.
“We just don’t know,” Taka Morris said.. “It might have been a combination of just being distracted — we know she didn’t have her phone with her, she had accidentally left it wherever she was — trying to find the phone, possibly being under the influence, and being tired. It was 2 o’clock in the morning.”
‘Loving individual’
This is what she is certain about her stepdaughter, Morris said: “Aliyah was a very loving individual. Nobody who ever met her did not fall in love with her. So many people have reached out to tell us.”
Morris started a GoFundMe drive for her stepdaughter’s children, Eli, 3, and Bella, 2.
“To honor Aliyah’s memory, we would like to establish a 529 Savings Plan for each child to use for future educational expenses,” Morris wrote on the fundraising page. “In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation.”
As of 9:30 p.m. Saturday, $4,514 had been raised toward the $10,000 goal.
“Donate to Eli and Bella for their future,” Morris said. “That’s what Aliyah would have wanted.”
This story was originally published March 12, 2021 at 6:30 AM.