DUI suspect in wedding crash that killed bride looks forward to 'best life' despite looming trial: recordings
Jamie Komoroski could face 25 years in prison if convicted in crash that killed newlywed Samantha Miller
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A South Carolina woman facing charges for a deadly DUI crash that killed a bride and seriously wounded her groom and two other relatives told her sister that "everything is going to work out" as she hopes to get back on track to be living her "best life," according to jailhouse phone calls.
Charleston deputies arrested Jamie Komoroski in April 2023 after she allegedly slammed her Toyota Camry into a golf cart carrying members of the bridal party after a wedding reception. Nearly a year later, she has been freed on bond.
In the golf cart were newlyweds Aric Hutchinson and Samantha Miller, 34, the bride's brother Benjamin Garrett and a juvenile relative. The crash killed Miller and left the others with severe injuries, some of them with permanent effects.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}SOUTH CAROLINA WOMAN ACCUSED OF KILLING BRIDE IN DUI CRASH RELEASED FROM JAIL LESS THAN A YEAR LATER
Composite image showing Jamie Komoroski, left, who is accused of drunkenly driving her Toyota Camry into a golf cart carrying newlyweds Aric Hutchinson and Samantha Miller, right, killing the bride on her wedding night and seriously injuring three other people, including the groom. The background shows the aftermath of the crash. (Folly beach Public Safety, Jamie Komoroski/Instagram, SC 9th Judicial Circuit)
"Bad s--- is going to happen," Komoroski told her sister, Kelsi Komoroski, in jailhouse recordings obtained by the New York Post after Komoroski posted $150,000 bail last week. "It’s how you handle it. It’s important to try and remember the universe is going to keep on keeping on, and what’s meant to be will be."
A wrongful death lawsuit filed by the surviving victims alleges the 26-year-old New Jersey native was triple the legal limit, with a blood-alcohol content of .261, on the night of the crash in Charleston, South Carolina.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jamie Komoroski at resorts in Turks and Caicos, left, and in Montego Bay, Jamaica. She's accused of killing newlywed Samantha Miller on her wedding night in South Carolina in April 2023. (Jamie Komoroski/Instagram)
After drinking for hours in at least four bars, she allegedly got behind the wheel "in her nearly unconscious state," made a wrong turn in the opposite direction of her home and rear-ended a golf cart "in the stupor of a drunken haze" while traveling more than 65 mph in a 25 mph zone.
MOTHER OF SOUTH CAROLINA BRIDE KILLED IN WEDDING CRASH LASHES OUT AT ACCUSED DRUNK DRIVER
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Benjamin Garrett, shown in his hospital bed beside groom Aric Hutchinson. Both men were seriously injured and bride Samantha Miller was killed when an accused drunken driver slammed into their golf cart. (GoFundMe)
But despite the tragedy, she told her sister that time will heal her wounds, according to the recordings.
"Two years down the road, you’re living your best life, and you’re so happy, and it’s OK," she said. "You’re fine."
Read the wrongful death lawsuit:
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In court filings, Komoroski's defense attorneys have argued that she struggled for years with alcohol, depression and anxiety.
She made no reference to the victims in any of her jailhouse calls, according to the Post report.
But she did "sob" to her mother that she's "not a bad person."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}LAWYERS FOR SOUTH CAROLINA DRIVER CHARGED WITH KILLING BRIDE SAY 'DON'T RUSH TO JUDGMENT'
Bride Samantha Miller was killed and groom Aric Hutchinson seriously injured on their wedding night after an alleged drunken driver plowed into their golf cart in South Carolina. (GoFundMe)
"I just want to tell everyone that I never wanted any of this," she reportedly said, adding she was grateful to "be alive."
With the criminal case pending, Komoroski invoked her Fifth Amendment right to remain silent in the wrongful death lawsuit.
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Judge Michael Nettles in August had agreed to grant bail for Komoroski if the case still hadn't gone to trial by March 1.
She has been placed on house arrest with an ankle monitor.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Associated Press contributed to this report.