Bodycam Footage Shows DUI Driver After Killing a Bride on Her Wedding Night
Updated On: August 9, 2026
New bodycam footage shows Jamie Komoroski after killing newlywed Samantha Miller on Folly Beach.
Jamie Komoroski was driving 65 mph when she slammed into the back of a golf cart on Folly Beach, South Carolina, on the night of April 28, 2023. In that golf cart was Samantha Miller, who had gotten married hours earlier. Miller was killed at the scene. Her husband, Aric Hutchinson, and two family members were injured. Three years later, newly released bodycam and booking footage show what happened after the crash and what Komoroski told officers about her own condition that night.
The video, released this week by the Ninth Circuit Solicitor's Office, shows Komoroski repeatedly asking to call her father and refusing to take a breathalyzer test. When officers asked how impaired she felt on a scale of one to ten, with one being completely sober and ten being the most impaired, she answered eight. She told them she had consumed a beer and a tequila drink roughly an hour before the crash.
After she refused the breathalyzer, she was taken to the Medical University of South Carolina for a blood draw. The results, sent to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division for testing, came back at 0.261%, more than three times the legal limit.
Criminal Case Resolved; Civil Case Still Active
Komoroski pleaded guilty to felony DUI, two counts of DUI causing great bodily injury or death, and reckless homicide. She was sentenced to 25 years in prison in December 2024. She subsequently asked for a reduced sentence, which was denied.
The criminal case is over, but the civil litigation is not. Hutchinson filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Komoroski and, critically, against five bars and restaurants where Komoroski had been drinking throughout the day and evening before the crash. The lawsuit names Bottle Cap Holdings, El Gallo Bar and Grill, Snapper Jacks, The Crab Shack, and The Drop-In Bar. A sixth establishment, Taco Boy, was dropped from the suit after demonstrating Komoroski had not entered the business that day. The lawsuit alleges the named establishments did not exercise appropriate caution in serving alcohol to someone who was visibly intoxicated.
Why the Bar Lawsuit Matters Beyond This Case
South Carolina's dram shop laws allow injured parties to sue alcohol-serving establishments that overserve a visibly intoxicated patron who then causes harm. This is one of the most direct legal tools available for holding the supply side of drunk driving accountable, and cases like this one test whether it works in practice.
A BAC of 0.261% is not the result of one beer and a tequila drink an hour before the crash. That level of intoxication typically reflects sustained, heavy drinking over multiple hours, exactly the scenario dram shop laws are designed to address. The central question the civil case will attempt to answer is whether any of those establishments continued serving Komoroski after she was already visibly impaired, and whether cutting her off at any point during the day could have prevented what happened that night.
For families of drunk driving victims, this is a critical concept to understand: the at-fault driver isn't always the only party with legal exposure. If the person who caused the crash was overserved at a bar, restaurant, or event venue, the establishment itself may share civil liability for the resulting injuries and deaths. Not every state has dram shop laws, and the ones that do vary in how broadly they apply, but in states that do recognize them, they can meaningfully expand the scope of a wrongful death or personal injury claim.
What Readers Should Take From This Case
Three things stand out. First, Komoroski's own self-assessment, rating herself an eight out of ten for impairment, is the kind of admission that is devastating in both criminal and civil proceedings. Defendants rarely describe their own condition so candidly, and when they do, it removes any ambiguity about whether they knew they shouldn't have been driving. Second, her refusal of the breathalyzer, while within her legal right, didn't prevent the prosecution. The blood draw provided a number that was even harder to dispute than a breath test would have been. Third, the civil case against the bars is a reminder that accountability in drunk driving cases doesn't end with the driver's sentence.
If you have lost a family member to a drunk driver, the independent attorneys we connect you with can help you identify every potentially liable party, including bars and restaurants, and pursue the full scope of compensation your family is entitled to.
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