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, 34, did not survive the April 2023 crash, while the groom suffered severe injuries and when he woke up in hospital after the incident, 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, 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'.
"But what did I do? Nobody has any proof of anything I did, so give me the right to call my dad," she said to officers.
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.
A timeline of Samantha Miller's death and the investigation into Jamie Lee Komoroski
28 April 2023
Samantha Miller, 34, and Aric Hutchinson, 36, are married at Folly Beach.
Meanwhile, Jamie Lee Komoroski, 25 at the time, visits several bars in the local area.
At around 10pm, Komoroski, driving a rented Toyota Camry, rear-ends a golf cart in which Miller, Hutchinson and two other people are travelling.
Komoroski was driving at 65mph on a 25mph road and was three times over the legal blood alcohol limit in South Carolina.
Miller dies at the scene, wearing her wedding dress. Komoroski is arrested. Hutchinson breaks both his legs, parts of his face and his back and suffers a brain bleed.
30 April 2023
In a phone call between Komoroski and her father later shared by the Post and Courier, she tells her dad: “I can’t believe this is my life … and my whole life is going to be over. Oh my God. I just can’t believe this happened to me.
“Why me? I’m going to be here for years and years and years and years.”
Her dad tells her to ‘suck it up' and ‘get tough’.
17 May 2023
Hutchinson files a wrongful death civil lawsuit against Komoroski and several bars that served her alcohol on the night of his wife’s death.
He accuses Komoroski of having a ‘booze-filled day of bar hopping’, and says the bar should have ‘exercised due care’ when serving her.
19 May 2023
Hutchinson gives his first interview following the crash to Good Morning America.
He says: “The last thing I remember [Samantha] saying was she wanted the night to never end.”
The next thing he remembers is waking up in hospital asking where his wife is and being told by his mother she didn’t make it.
August 2023
More phone calls from jail between Komoroski and her dad are leaked.
Inside Edition reports she tells her father: “I’m just scared, dad. I don’t want to go away for so, so long. I don’t want to go to prison for 15 years.
“I don’t think I’m a threat to society at all and I’m not.
“I still just don’t know why this had to happen to me.”
Her dad responds: “Because bad things happen to good people, honey.”
12 September 2023
A grand jury indicts Komoroski. She is charged with felony DUI resulting in death, two counts of felony DUI with great bodily injury and reckless homicide.
June 2024
Several of the bars in the civil lawsuit reach a $1.3 million settlement with Hutchinson.
2 December 2024
Komoroski pleads guilty to all four charges. She is sentenced to 25 years for felony DUI resulting in death, 10 years for reckless homicide, and 15 years for the two DUI with great bodily injury charges. The sentences run concurrently, so Komoroski faces a total of 25 years in prison.
Komoroski tells the court through tears: “I want the last thing that I say to be that, from the very bottom of my heart, with every fibre in my being, how sorry I am. I take full responsibility for my actions.
"Hopefully one day you will be able to forgive me, but I know forgiveness must be earned."
After the sentencing, Hutchinson tells journalists: “I feel like the punishment fit the crime. I do think she’s sorry. However, that doesn’t change the fact that Sam’s not here.”
Records indicate that Komoroski is not eligible for parole. She remains at the Camille Griffin Graham Correctional Center in Columbia
10 December 2025
A final settlement is reached in the civil lawsuit. Komoroski’s insurance provider pays $160,000; the other bars pay $863,000.
24 April 2045
The date Komoroski is expected to be released.
Joe Harker