Newly released police footage shows drunk driver complaining after killing bride on wedding night
New footage of Jamie Lee Komoroski shows the aftermath of a crash where the drunk driver had collided with a golf cart which was carrying newlyweds Samantha Miller and Aric Hutchinson as they left their own wedding.
Samantha did not survive the crash, while the groom suffered severe injuries and when he woke up in hospital after the crash he had to be told that his wife was dead.
Komoroski had been driving the car that struck the golf cart and was arrested at the scene in South Carolina, later being found to have a blood alcohol content of 0.261 percent, meaning she was more than three times over the drink drive limit.
She pleaded guilty to a felony charge for a DUI causing death, as well as two felony charges for a DUI causing great bodily injury, and another charge for reckless homicide, and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
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Police bodycam footage released via WCSC shows the immediate aftermath of the crash where officers approached Komoroski and she spoke to them.
Komoroski, sitting on the ground by the side of the road, was seen pointing towards Samantha Miller and asking: "Is she okay? Make sure she's okay!"
She screamed and pointed at the bride before being led away, and footage from 30 minutes later showed her asking again if everyone was alright as she was told that several people had to go to hospital.
Komoroski had been driving a rental car on the night of 28 April, 2023, and had been drinking at local bars before she crashed into the golf cart carrying the newlyweds at 65mph.
When asked to describe the crash she said: "I was driving and all of a sudden something hit me."
She was asked if she'd had anything to drink and initially told officers 'nope', before saying she 'had two drinks' with one of them being a beer and the other having tequila in it.
Komorski then asked for a lawyer when police asked her to rate how intoxicated she was on a scale of one to 10.
Footage of her being taken away in handcuffs had her asking what she was under arrest for, and kept asking after being told the reason several times.
"But how do you know?" she asked police repeatedly as she was handcuffed and sitting in the back of a police car, and once she'd been taken to the police station she said she wanted 'to get it over with and go home'.
The woman asked several times for a test and told officers they had no 'proof of anything I did', although she initially refused to provide a breath sample and later told police 'I don't have to prove anything'.
During her trial Aric Hutchinson described the final moments he got to spend with his wife on the day of their wedding.
"On the golf cart, she told me she didn't want the night to end and I kissed her on the forehead and then the next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital," the widower told the court.
Joe Harker