Drunk driver who killed bride on wedding night asks police disturbing question in new footage
Newly released video footage shows Jamie Lee Komoroski asking police officers what their favourite cereal is after she was arrested for causing a fatal crash.
Komoroski is currently serving a 25-year sentence after smashing her car into a golf buggy transporting newly married couple Samantha and Aric Hutchinson after their wedding at Folly Beach, South Carolina, in April 2023.
The 27-year-old was intoxicated and driving at 65mph when she collided with the buggy carrying the couple alongside two other passengers.
Samantha would not survive the crash, being pronounced dead at the scene, while Aric was hospitalised with severe injuries.
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Komoroski later pleaded guilty to felony DUI resulting in death, two counts of felony DUI with great bodily injury and reckless homicide.
New footage from the night of Komoroski's arrest released
Newly released footage shows Komoroski, then 25, attempting to make conversation with police officers while she is being processed at Folly Beach Police Department in South Carolina.
Komoroski is seated in a chair with her hands cuffed behind her back in the video as she rambles about allergies and her favourite foods.
In one particularly disturbing moment, Komoroski asks the officers, 'What’s your guys’ favourite cereal', before sharing her preferred flavour of ice-cream and choice in fast-food restaurants.
"McDonald’s is my live or die, forever and forever... I like a good ol’ Big Mac, and a good ol’ 10-piece chicken nugget, and some good ol’ McDonald’s fries," she says at one point, before moving on to her preference in ice-cream.
"There’s so many people that say they hate mint chocolate chip, and I’m like, it’s good," she continued. "My favourite personally is soft serve vanilla with rainbow sprinkles. But I’m a soft serve girlie."
Komoroski also rambled about her ancestry, giving up a job paying 'mad money' in freight brokering, adopting a new pet cat and the real estate market in South Carolina, as well as asking officers if they'd been struggling with allergies.
"I don’t know about you guys but my allergies have been so bad. This pollen has been killing me," she said.
Meanwhile, other police footage released from the night shows Komoroski in the immediate moments after the crash.
Released via local news outlet WCSC, Komoroski is seated on the floor when a police officer approaches her to ask about what happened.
Komoroski can then be seen pointing to Samantha, who is not visible on camera, and repeatedly asking: "Is she okay? Make sure she's okay!"
She is also asked to recount her memories of the crash, telling officers, "I was driving and all of a sudden something hit me."
The officer then asks Komoroski if she's had anything to drink, which she initially denies before admitting: "I had two drinks."
It was later revealed that Komoroski was three times over the legal blood alcohol limit.
Later on in the video Komoroski is placed in handcuffs, at which point she becomes agitated and asks officers what she's under arrest for.
After arriving at the police station, Komoroski asks to phone her father, telling officers on duty: "Nobody has any proof of anything I did, so give me the right to call my dad."
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 l.
From around 7.50pm, Jamie Lee Komoroski, 25, 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.
Brenna Cooper