Woman in South Carolina who allegedly killed bride, injured groom on wedding night reeked of alcohol: police

Lifestyle

The alleged drunken driver accused of slamming into a golf cart, killing bride Samantha Miller and seriously injuring her new husband on their wedding night in South Carolina, reeked of alcohol and was “uncooperative,” police allege.

Jamie Lee Komoroski, 25, of New Jersey, told police she drank a shot of tequila and one beer about an hour before the horrifying April 28 collision that robbed Aric Hutchinson, 36, of his wife hours after they said “I do,” according to affidavit obtained by Fox News Digital.

Minutes after the couple left their Folly Beach wedding reception with two relatives in tow their euphoria turned to tragedy. 

Komoroski allegedly slammed her gray Toyota rental into their golf cart going 65 mph – twice the legal limit on the island near Charleston.

Police asked her to perform a field sobriety test, “she strongly refused and became uncooperative on the scene,” the affidavit charges.

Officers noted  that Komoroski “was very unsteady on her feet and almost fell down.” They asked her to rate her level of impairment on a scale of one to 10, and she replied that she was an eight. 

“I smelled an odor of alcohol coming from her breath and person,” the report says.

“They couldn’t be more perfect for each other.” 

— Mandi Jenkins, sister of slain bride Samantha Miller

A warrant was obtained to test Komoroski’s blood. She was arrested on three counts of felony DUI resulting in great bodily injury and/or death and one count of reckless homicide, court records show.

“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,” wrote the groom’s mother, Annette Hutchinson, on a GoFundMe page to raise money for his medical expenses and his 34-year-old wife’s funeral. 

“The golf cart was thrown over 100 yards and rolled several times,” leaving Miller dead, her husband in critical condition and two other passengers hospitalized, the post says.

“Aric is in serious condition and has had one of two reconstruction surgeries, numerous broken bones, and a brain injury. He will have a long recovery,” the grieving mother wrote. 

The GoFundMe page had received over $430,000 in donations as of Tuesday morning. Miller and her husband had been together for three years before they tied the knot in a beachside cremony

“I’ve never seen the light in her eyes shine as bright as that day from the moment that day started, getting ready for her wedding at the house,” Miller’s sister, Mandi Jenkins, told ABC4. “It was the best day of her life.”

The bride’s mother, Lisa Miller, said a surprise dance was announced at the reception “for the most important person in Sam’s life, which was me.” They danced to Bruno Mars’ “Just the Way You Are.” 

“That’s our song,” Miller told the local outlet.

The joyous couple left the reception of 150 well-wishers under a canopy of sparklers. “They couldn’t be more perfect for each other,” Jenkins said. 

The couple was two blocks from home when they were hit from behind. 

Jenkins and Miller were sitting on a balcony, where they were staying, when they heard sirens and texted the bride – but there was no response.

“We just went down to the scene, and we just got out of the truck and [we were] just running, screaming ‘Sam, Sam!'” Miller recalled.

Fox News’ Julia Bonavita contributed to this report.