New bodycam video shows woman repeatedly ask to call father moments after DUI crash killed newlywed bride
Newly released bodycam footage has captured the moments after Jamie Lee Komoroski crashed into a golf cart carrying newlywed Samantha Miller and her groom on their wedding night.
Miller, 34, was killed in the April 28, 2023 crash in Folly Beach, South Carolina, after Komoroski drove into the golf cart as the group travelled back from the wedding reception.
Now, more than three years after the tragedy, footage obtained by Live 5 News shows Komoroski in the immediate aftermath of the crash and during her arrest.
In one clip, Komoroski can be heard screaming, 'Is she okay?' as officers deal with the scene.
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She also tells officers she had only consumed one drink and a beer during the previous hour.
Police later determined her blood-alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit in South Carolina.
Another clip shows Komoroski sitting inside a car with her feet outside as she repeatedly asks to call her father.
When an officer refuses, she asks why and he tells her she is under arrest.
"For what?" she asks.
When the officer says she is being arrested for DUI, Komoroski responds: "How do you know?"
The footage then follows her at the police station, where she initially refuses to sit down before eventually taking a seat and beginning to cry.
"I just want to go home," she says.
She then asks to call her dad again, and when an officer tells her that’s 'not gonna happen right now,' she asks why.
Komoroski continues to insist she has 'the right to call my father', with the officer again refusing.
She then asks: "Why not?"
The footage comes after Komoroski pleaded guilty in December 2024 to DUI causing death, two counts of DUI causing great bodily injury and reckless homicide.
She was sentenced to 10 years for reckless homicide, 15 years for the two DUI causing great bodily injury charges and 25 years for felony DUI resulting in death. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently.
Miller's groom, Aric Hutchinson, survived the crash but suffered a brain injury and numerous broken bones, requiring multiple reconstructive surgeries.
The tragedy came just hours after Miller and Hutchinson had exchanged their wedding vows.
In a GoFundMe set up after the crash, Hutchinson's mother described the devastating aftermath, writing: "I was handed Aric’s wedding ring in a plastic bag at the hospital, five hours after Sam placed it on his finger and they read each other their vows."
"Aric has lost the love of his life."
At Komoroski's December 2024 sentencing, Hutchinson spoke about the impact of the crash and the loss of his wife.
"We didn’t get hit, we got ran through," he said. "All four of us should have died that night. I believe Sam saved us. It’s who she is, she would have taken one for all of us."
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.
Rhiannon Ingle