Widower Will Get $860K After Wife Is Killed on Wedding Night

UPDATE Jun 24, 2024 9:55 AM CDT

A man whose bride was killed by a woman suspected of drunk driving on their wedding night will receive more than $860,000 in a lawsuit settlement, reports the South Carolina Post and Courier. Aric Hutchinson sued three local bars in Folly Beach, as well as Progressive auto insurance and Enterprise Rent-A-Car. Jamie Lee Komoroski, who was driving the rental car that slammed into the newlyweds' golf cart last year, is still facing criminal charges.

May 19, 2023 12:43 AM CDT

Samantha Miller was killed on her wedding night in South Carolina when an allegedly drunk driver crashed into the golf cart Miller was riding on with her new husband. Now, the newly widowed man is suing over the tragedy, CBS News reports. Aric Hutchinson is suing the woman accused of driving while intoxicated and hitting the golf cart, Jamie Lee Komoroski, as well as her place of employment and the bars she allegedly visited before the crash. He says those establishments shouldn't have served Komoroski when she was already "notably and visibly intoxicated," according to the suit. He says the 25-year-old was served "excessive" amounts of alcohol and allowed to leave while "dangerously" intoxicated and "in the stupor of a drunken haze." (Her BAC was allegedly more than triple the legal limit.)

As for Komoroski's job at Taco Boy, which she'd only just recently gotten, Hutchinson says the Folly Beach restaurant is known for boozy company meetings and events, but the communications director for the establishment says 16 hours of video footage, staff interviews, and sales receipts from that day confirm no one served Komoroski alcohol the day of the accident and there was no "officially organized employee function around drinking." Hutchinson also gave his first interview since the tragedy, which airs on ABC News Friday. In a preview, he says he's not ready to send a message to Komoroski yet. "I can't right now," he says. "I'd like to. I mean, she stole an amazing human being that should not have been taken." (Miller's mother has also spoken out.)