On April 28, 2023, Aric Hutchinson and Samantha Miller exchanged vows and celebrated the beginning of their lives as husband and wife by dancing near the Atlantic shoreline under a star-studded sky.
But, till death do you part came too early for the young newlyweds. Leaving their reception on Folly Beach–an island off the coast of South Carolina – Aric and Samantha were struck by a drunk driver, killing Samantha, 34, and sending Aric to hospital. Two others on the cart were also injured.
The bride’s mother, Lisa Miller said, “On the beginning of the golf cart ride, she said I wished this night could go on forever. The best night of her life.”
The couple’s beautiful day ended tragically after, as Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson, they joyously left the reception through a canopy of sparklers.
Along with Aric’s relatives, Benjamin and Brogan Garrett, who were seated in the front, the young couple got into the back of the low speed vehicle (LSV), a street legal cart, similar to a golf cart.
They were only two blocks from where they were staying when Jamie Lee Komoroski, 25, slammed into the back of the LSV with the Toyota rental car she was operating.
According to Associated Press, data retrieved from Komoroski’s rental car indicated she was driving 65 mph in a 25 mph zone, and only briefly hit the brakes before crashing around 10 p.m. Friday on Folly Beach. Safety Department Director Andrew Gilreath confirmed the LSV had lights and was legal to drive at night.
The bride’s mother, who only hours earlier danced with her daughter to Bruno Mars’ “Just the Way You Are,” said to local media, “I don’t know what the distraction was, but she literally ran into my daughter going 65 miles an hour. Sammie and Aric were on the back of the golf cart and so she basically just whammed my child.”
Mandi Jenkins, Samantha’s sister, recalled when they saw and heard the sirens near the place they were staying. “We were in our pajamas sitting on the balcony…and started to hear the sirens. And the sirens kept going,” Jenkins said. Texting her sister with no response, they drove to the scene and what they saw was horrifying.
