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May 12, 2023 · Jamie Lee Komoroski, 25, was allegedly driving the car that crashed into a golf cart carrying Samantha Miller and her husband, Aric Hutchinson, who were leaving their wedding reception in...
- Mirna Alsharif
May 18, 2023 · Aric Hutchinson, 36, filed the wrongful death lawsuit Wednesday in the County of Charleston, South Carolina, in the Ninth Judicial Circuit, alleging that 25-year-old Jamie Komoroski was grossly negligent and reckless on April 28, the day 34-year-old Samantha Miller and her new husband thought would be the happiest day of their lives. Instead ...
Mar 4, 2024 · Crash took life of just married bride Samantha Miller, injured her new husband and 2 others. Miller, who lived in Charlotte, North Carolina, died after a car, allegedly driven by Komoroski,...
- Natalie Neysa Alund
- Senior Reporter
- Overview
- Allegations of an alcohol-fueled evening
- A quest for accountability
The groom whose wife was struck and killed in a car crash in South Carolina on the couple's wedding night has sued the alleged drunk driver and the bars she allegedly drank at before she got behind the wheel, according to court documents obtained by NBC News.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in South Carolina's Ninth Judicial Circuit Court, accuses driver Jamie Komoroski, 25, and the owners of five South Carolina bars — Snapper Jacks, The Drop In, The Crab Shack, El Gallo Bar & Grill and Taco Boy, where Komoroski was employed — of negligence and wrongful death in the crash on Folly Beach on April 28 that killed Samantha Miller, 34, of Charlotte, North Carolina, as she and her husband, Aric Hutchinson, 36, were leaving their wedding reception in a golf cart.
The suit alleges that employees of the bars Komoroski allegedly visited the night of April 28 overserved her even though she was “noticeably and visibly intoxicated” and that she got behind the wheel after an alleged “booze-filled day of bar hopping.”
Hutchinson, the groom, was seriously injured, sustaining a brain injury and broken bones. A witness reported that Komoroski “was dazed and confused” at the scene and repeatedly said “I did nothing wrong” and that she wanted to go home, according to the incident report.
Hutchinson said Saturday at a memorial in Miller’s honor on Folly Beach that he is feeling “just as good as I can feel with the situation.” He filed the suit both as the representative of Miller's estate and on his own behalf, the complaint says.
Danny Dalton, the attorney representing Miller’s family, said in a statement that the case “is about keeping our community safe from drunk drivers, and an important part of that effort is making sure the establishments we entrust with liquor licenses live up to their responsibility to serve alcohol responsibly.”
The lawsuit alleges that Komoroski began her evening drinking at El Gallo Bar & Grill in Charleston before she drove 26 miles south to the city of Folly Beach, where she allegedly drank at three more local bars: The Drop In, The Crab Shack and Snapper Jacks.
“Over the course of several hours, Jamie Komoroski slurred and staggered her way through each of these bars, consuming an assortment of alcoholic beverages, including beer, tequila shots, shift shots of liquor on the house, etc.,” the suit alleges.
“By the end of the night, Jamie Komoroski was grossly and dangerously intoxicated,” it says.
Komoroski's blood alcohol content was more than three times the legal limit in South Carolina, which is 0.08%, according to a toxicology report.
The incident report says she told a sergeant at the scene of the crash — on the 1200 block of East Ashley Avenue in Folly Beach — that she had two drinks that night, a beer and a “tequila pineapple an hour ago or so.” Komoroski refused to perform any field sobriety tests, and she was swaying as a sergeant asked her to stand up, according to the incident report.
A sergeant said he “smelled an odor of alcohol coming from her breath and person,” the incident report says, adding that Komoroski was driving 65 mph per hour in a 25 mph zone — and in the opposite direction of her home — at the time of the crash.
The lawsuit also names as defendants 20 unspecified “Jane Does” who may have contributed to the events.
Also named as plaintiffs, alongside Hutchinson, are Benjamin Garrett, Hutchinson's brother-in-law, and his son, a minor, who were driving the newly married couple in a golf cart back to their accommodations for the evening and suffered "terrible and permanent injuries," the complaint says.
Andrew Gilreath, the director of the Folly Beach Public Safety Department, has told The Associated Press that the golf cart had lights and was authorized to drive at night.
Hutchinson and the other plaintiffs are seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages, according to the lawsuit.
Dalton, the family's attorney, said the family hopes filing the lawsuit will allow it to learn more about what happened in the hours and minutes before the fatal crash and who should be held responsible.
“There are still many details we don’t know about the sequence of events leading up to the tragic crash, but by filing a lawsuit, we can begin the legal discovery process that allows us to get the answers that Samantha’s family deserves," Dalton said in a statement.
Oct 3, 2023 · The April 28 crash killed Samantha Miller, 34, and wounded three other occupants of the golf cart. Aric Hutchinson survived with a brain injury and multiple broken bones.
May 2, 2023 · Jamie Lee Komoroski was arrested on three counts of DUI with death or great bodily injury and one count of reckless vehicular homicide after a crash left a bride dead on April 29, 2023....
Apr 28, 2024 · Jamie Lee Komoroski, the driver of the vehicle that struck the LSV, was traveling 65 m.p.h. in a 25 m.p.h. zone and her blood alcohol level was three times over the legal limit. She is charged...
