A 28-year-old woman who is now in prison after killing a bride while driving under the influence is shown arguing with police officers shortly after the incident in newly released footage.
The fatal crash occurred on the night of April 28, 2023, as the newlyweds were being driven back to their accommodation in a golf cart just hours after their ceremony.
Jamie Komoroski slammed into the back of the cart while driving at 65mph, killing the bride, Samantha Miller, and injuring her husband, Aric Hutchinson, and their two relatives.
In 2024, she pleaded guilty to the drink-driving charges resulting in death, and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Speaking with the Associated Press, after suffering a brain injury and broken bones as a result of the crash, newlywed Hutchinson said: “On the golf cart, she [his wife] told me she didn’t want the night to end and I kissed her on the forehead. The next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital.”
Despite pleading guilty to felony DUI, two counts of DUI causing great bodily injury or death and reckless homicide, newly released body cam footage of Komoroski shows she initially didn’t believe she had committed the crime.
One exchange at the scene sees her tell police: “I was driving and then all of a sudden something hit me.”
She then admits to having two drinks an hour previously: a beer and a tequila drink.
Later, handcuffed in the back of a police car, she asks an officer if she can call her dad, then repeatedly asking why she’s been arrested.
When the officer tells her DUI, she repeatedly asks: “How do you know?”
Later footage shows Komoroski in the police station.
“I just want to like get it over with and go home,” she says to officers.
She questions: “I can’t call my dad? But what did I do?”
The 28-year-old then makes a chilling demand: “No one has any proof of anything that I did, so give me the right to call my dad.”
Upon being taken to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston for blood samples, they reported her blood alcohol level to be 0.261 percent, more than three times the legal limit in the state.
Before receiving her sentence from the judge, Komoroski spoke of her regret, and noted that she took full responsibility for Miller’s death and the family’s injuries.
“I wish I could go back and undo this terrible tragedy. But I cannot. I will live the rest of my life with intense regret for what happened that night,” she admitted.
Speaking with CBS News affiliate WCSC, Hutchinson felt ‘the punishment fit the crime’, as he added: “I do think she’s sorry.
“However, that doesn’t change the fact that Sam’s not here, my wife’s not here, the family we planned, all of our injuries. So that’ll take some time for sure.”
Describing his wife on Good Morning America, he noted that she was an ‘amazing human being who should never have been taken’.
“I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. That night going from an all-time high to an all-time low, it’s pretty tough to try to comprehend,” the devastated husband said.
A timeline of Samantha Miller’s death and the investigation into Jamie Lee Komoroski
April 28 2023
Samantha Miller, 34, and Aric Hutchinson, 36, are married at Folly Beach.
Meanwhile, 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.
April 30 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’.
May 17 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.
May 19 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.”
September 12 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.
December 2 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 fiber 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
December 10 2025
A final settlement is reached in the civil lawsuit. Komoroski’s insurance provider pays $160,000; the other bars pay $863,000.
April 24 2045
The date Komoroski is expected to be released.
