Newly released footage shows what drunk driver asked cops after killing bride on her wedding day
Newly surfaced police footage shows the moment officers arrested Jamie Lee Komoroski, the drunk driver who killed a bride on her wedding day, exposing some bizarre behaviour.
The extended body camera video filmed at the Folly Beach Police Department in South Carolina on April 28, 2023, shows Komoroski, now 27, sitting handcuffed and chatting freely with the officers watching over her.
Rather than expressing remorse, Komoroski can be heard making small talk about pollen allergies, her favourite breakfast cereal, and her pets, just hours after she fatally struck newly weds Samantha and Aric Hutchinson as they left their wedding reception in a golf cart.
Before the small talk, she reportedly spent about 30 minutes arguing with police, requesting to speak to her father, and saying: 'No one proved me for s–t for anything'.
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Komoroski, then 25, was found to have a blood alcohol level three times over the legal limit after she slammed into the couple's golf cart at 65mph in a 25mph zone.
Samantha, 34, died at the scene, still in her wedding dress, while her husband Aric, 36, suffered a severe brain injury and multiple broken bones.
Two other guests riding in the card were also seriously hurt.
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."
In the footage, Komoroski's mood shifts repeatedly, swinging between tearful complaints about wanting to go home and lighthearted ramblings with officers.
At one point she quizzes a police officer about his heritage, telling him, 'my sister's boyfriend is Filipino and Hawaiian and Japanese', before launching into a lengthy explanation of her own family background, including a claim that relatives call her 'the dark sheep' over her darker hair and skin tone.
She goes on to discuss her new kitten, named Theo, and enthuses about her taste in fast food, telling officers 'White Castle is such a vibe' and that McDonald's is her 'live or die, forever and forever' before naming the Big Mac and a 10-piece chicken nugget meal as her favourites.
She also shared her preference for soft serve vanilla ice cream with rainbow sprinkles and tells officers she loves poached eggs, describing them as a 'nice soupy little eggy-egg'.
How long is Jamie Lee Komoroski's prison sentence?
Despite the casual tone captured on camera, earlier body cam footage from the scene of the crash shows a visibly distressed Komoroski asking bystanders whether Samantha was okay, telling them to 'go check on her.'
Komoroski spent close to a year in custody before pleading guilty to felony DUI resulting in death or great bodily injury, along with reckless homicide.
In December 2024, she was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
UNILAD has contacted the Folly Beach Police Department for comment.
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.
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.
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.
Topics: Jamie Lee Komoroski, South Carolina, True crime
Thomas Bamford