We’ve got a shocking and sad update in the case of that horrible golf car accident late last month involving a newlywed couple in South Carolina.
New bride Samantha Hutchinson was killed in the crash, and her groom of just a few hours, Aric Hutchinson, was severely injured after the golf cart they were riding in while leaving their wedding was struck from behind by an alleged drunk driver in Folly Beach, South Carolina.
Two other members of the newlywed couple’s wedding party who were also in the golf cart at the time were severely injured, as well. And now, new information is coming to light from the police report in the tragic and heartbreaking case.
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As we reported at the time of the crash, cops in Folly Beach arrested a 25-year-old woman named Jamie Lee Komoroski. They claim she was driving a rented Toyota Camry at the time of the accident, and her blood-alcohol concentration was more than three times the legal limit to be operating a vehicle.
According to a new report from the New York Post, Komoroski disputed that at the time. Per the police report filed at the scene by Folly Beach PD Sergeant Zac Halpern, Komoroski admitted to him that she’d had “two drinks an hour before the accident.” She identified them as a beer and a tequila pineapple.
However, per the Post, in that incident report, the taco restaurant waitress claimed she wasn’t at fault for the crash. She told Sgt. Halpern on the scene of the April 28 accident:
“All the sudden something hit me. I did nothing wrong.”
WTF…
Halpern noted she “appeared confused” while being questioned. When he asked her how drunk she was on “a scale of one to ten,” the police officer reportedly heard her “mumble that she was at an eight” before “demanding a lawyer.” Cops tried to administer a sobriety test on Komoroski, but according to the report, she “refused” and began “yelling for her boyfriend” while appearing to “try to hide her eyes” from officers.
Per multiple reports, cops later confirmed Komoroski had a blood-alcohol level of 0.261 — which, as we noted above, is more than three times the legal limit in the state of South Carolina. Halpern repeatedly noted in the report that Komoroski appeared “dazed” at the scene of the crash. He also documented how she had “trouble standing on her feet” when he pulled her out of the Camry to arrest her.
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Upon being placed in handcuffs, Komoroski was allegedly “confused,” and had to be told “three times” to get in the back of the officer’s patrol car. Sergeant Halpern wrote in the report:
“This is a clear indication of someone who is intoxicated; is to repeat over and over, after their question has already been answered.”
Jeez…
Cops believe Komoroski was going 40 miles an hour over the 25 mph speed limit on the Folly Beach residential street when the crash occurred. She was not injured in the collision.
Samantha Hutchinson was pronounced dead at the scene — in her white wedding dress — and her newlywed husband was rushed to the hospital with a traumatic brain injury and several broken bones. Aric underwent multiple surgeries in the week after the crash. He was eventually released from intensive care last Thursday.
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Last week, peer the Post, Komoroski hired two attorneys South Carolina attorneys — Nathan S. Williams and Christopher S. Gramiccioni — to defend her in court. In a statement released to the Post & Courier in Charleston, the attorneys said they “could not fathom what the families are going through” right now, but added:
“We simply ask that there not be a rush to judgment. Our court system is founded upon principles of justice and mercy and that is where all facts will come to light.”
Hmmm…
Per the Post, Komoroski is still in jail in the nearby city of North Charleston. She was denied bond at her most recent court appearance.
According to DailyMail.com, her next court appearance is scheduled for early June.
If you or someone you know is experiencing substance abuse, help is available. Consider checking out the resources SAMHSA provides at https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/national-helpline or check out StartYourRecovery.org.
[Image via Charleston County Sheriff’s Office/ABC News 4/YouTube]
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