A groom whose bride was killed by an alleged drunk driver on their wedding day in South Carolina spoke out this week for the first time since the crash, recalling the last thing she said to him: “She wanted the night to never end.”
“That night, going from an all-time high to an all-time low is pretty rough to comprehend,” widower Aric Hutchinson told ABC’s Good Morning America in a video interview Friday, with footage showing him wearing a black wedding band on his ring finger.
Samantha Miller, 34, from Charlotte, North Carolina, died in an April 28 golf cart crash in Folly Beach. Hutchinson, his brother-in-law and his nephew also suffered major injuries in the two-vehicle crash − a wreck he said he does not remember.
“The last thing I remember her saying she wanted the night to never end,” he said through tears in the interview.
Previously:New bride riding in golf cart killed by drunken driver doing more than twice speed limit
Lawsuit filed:DUI suspect accused of killing bride on wedding day sued along with ‘bar hopping’ businesses
Moments after, down the road from their reception, police said a rented Toyota Camry driven by a 25-year-old woman slammed into their golf cart. Miller died at the scene.
The Camry’s alleged driver, Jamie Lee Komoroski, remained jailed Friday facing charges including reckless vehicular homicide and driving under the influence causing great bodily injury, court records show.
Folly Beach Public Safety Department said data retrieved from the car Komoroski drove show she was driving 65 mph and briefly hit the brakes before she slammed into the golf cart, killing the new bride.
‘Where’s Sam?”
At the hospital, Hutchinson told GMA, he remembered waking up and seeing his mom’s face.
“You could just tell something was wrong. I asked her, ‘Where’s Sam? Where’s Sam?’ That’s when she told me there was an incident and that Sam didn’t make it.”
Miller’s online obituary describes her as a woman who “delivered peace, confidence, and laughter everywhere she roamed.”
Hutchinson recalled moments from his late wife’s life and called her “an amazing human being” whose life “should not have been taken.”
“Sam’s just got that glow,” he said, then dropped his head then broke into tears. “She’s the type that walks in a room and you notice.”
Lawsuit filed
According to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Hutchinson last week, Komoroski had been “bar hopping” the day of the wreck.
In a police affidavit, a responding police officer at the crash scene wrote Komoroski smelled strongly of alcohol and admitted to drinking “one beer and a drink with tequila.”
At the scene, Komoroski refused a sobriety and a breath test, the affidavit shows. Court papers show when her blood was drawn her blood alcohol content was 0.261, more than three times the legal limit to drive.
Jailed without bond, Komoroski is due in court next month for a hearing, records show.
On Friday, Hutchinson was preparing a funeral for his bride.
Natalie Neysa Alund covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.
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