Global Courant 2023-05-03 03:01:44
The bride’s mother had just relaxed with fresh clothes and a glass of wine on the balcony of her short-term rental when the sound of sirens gave the first impression that her daughter’s wedding night had gone awry.
Within minutes, Lisa Miller was driving her new in-laws to the beach road in South Carolina where authorities say a woman driving twice the speed limit while intoxicated crashed into the golf cart that was leading a happy couple away from their sparkler-filled farewell at a reception overlooking the Atlantic coastline.
A day that had begun blissfully with charcuterie and mimosas along the beach ended with hours spent in agony outside a hospital where she had been falsely told her daughter had been taken. Then Lisa Miller said she learned that the bride’s father had identified the body at the scene of the crash.
Samantha Miller, 34, died Friday in Folly Beach, South Carolina, while still wearing her wedding dress. The groom, Aric Hutchinson, is recovering from brain damage and numerous broken bones after the golf cart was thrown 100 yards (91 meters). Two other occupants also reportedly suffered injuries of varying severity.
The Charlotte, North Carolina native was remembered as a positive person who tried to care for everyone in her presence.
It is a character that her mother said is symbolized by one of her last acts. At the reception, her daughter had the DJ make a surprise announcement for a dance with “the most important person in the bride’s life”. Mother and daughter were soon dancing to Bruno Mars’ “Just the Way You Are.”
“Sam doesn’t want this to destroy our lives,” said Lisa Miller. “We know that.”
She and her daughter, Mandi Jenkins, are now urging drivers to reconsider how a split-second decision to take the wheel while drunk could have lasting consequences for a “real family” like that theirs. She pointed drunk ride-seekers to apps like Uber or Lyft.
Jamie Komoroski, 25, has been charged with reckless vehicular homicide and three counts of drunk driving resulting in death or grievous bodily harm. She told the responding officer that she had a beer and a tequila-infused drink about an hour before the crash, according to an affidavit obtained by The Associated Press.
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She became reluctant after she refused to take a sobriety test, according to the affidavit, and the officer had to help her stand. The officer then reported that she was issued a warrant for two vials of blood after she refused to provide a breath sample to the station.
“We hope that anyone who sees this — maybe it will help someone who made those bad decisions before quitting or maybe never make that decision by seeing real people affected,” she said.
The accident has brought road safety into the spotlight in a community that has recently moved to combat speeding. Folly Beach residents successfully urged the South Carolina Department of Transportation in 2018 to lower the speed limit by five miles per hour to 25 mph.
State Representative Spencer Wetmore, the city manager at the time, vowed Tuesday to keep fighting for safer roads after a “terrible tragedy” she told the AP “completely broke my heart.”
In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, Lisa Miller said she wanted to leave and never return to the beach town that would be the starting point of her daughter’s next chapter. But she has since been bolstered by the support of the surrounding community.
People have been bringing food to Lisa Miller and Jenkins for the past few nights. A realtor put them in touch with an oceanfront apartment where they want to stay for free for the next month.
Now Lisa Miller said she wants to move there and be around “kind-hearted, genuinely caring people.” The two emphasized that they want to help Hutchinson, the groom, with his recovery.
“When he gets out of the hospital, it’s not over yet. He will need a lot of support physically and emotionally,” Jenkins said. “And we’ll be there for him too.”
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James Pollard serves on the Corps for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a non-profit national service program that places journalists on local newsrooms to report on undercover issues.
