29/04/2024

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Jamie Lee Komoroski getting special treatment in jail, with sheriff’s help after fatal wedding night crash

Jamie Lee Komoroski getting special treatment in jail, with sheriff’s help after fatal wedding night crash

The woman accused of drunkenly mowing down new bride Samantha Hutchinson on her wedding night got special treatment in jail — even while whining about not getting an exercise mat to do crunches.

Jamie Lee Komoroski, 25, has been allowed to have in-person visits from her family thanks to a helping hand from Sheriff Kristin Graziano — even though the policy at South Carolina’s Charleston County jail is to only allow online video chats, officials confirmed to The Post on Monday.

Graziano even met with Komoroski at one point, with the suspect telling her boyfriend in a call from jail that “the head person of Charleston County” thought she should be home with her family.

“She’s really nice, and I think she’s gonna help me,” Komoroski said in the call, one of a series obtained by the Post and Courier

“Things are looking up,” Komoroski told her boyfriend.

The revelations came as other jailhouse recordings showed Komoroski clearly doesn’t think her accommodations are up to snuff.

She has griped about everything from the food to not being allowed to hold the TV remote control — and not getting an exercise mat to do crunches, the local outlet reported.


Jamie Lee Komoroski in her mugshot.
“Things are looking up,” Komoroski told her boyfriend, referring to the sheriff’s help.
GoFundMe/Folly Beach Police/MEGA

The sheriff’s office confirmed that Graziano got involved in the jail’s treatment of Komoroski after the suspect’s “family reached out to the agency soon after her arrival” at the detention center, where the suspect is being held on three counts of felony driving under the influence and one count of reckless vehicular homicide.

Komoroski is accused of driving drunk — more than three times the legal blood-alcohol limit — when her vehicle struck a golf cart carrying newlyweds Samantha Hutchinson, 34, and her 36-year-old groom, Aric Hutchinson, as they left their April 28 reception.

Samantha, still in her wedding dress, was killed, while Aric was seriously wounded.

“Sheriff Graziano meets occasionally with jail residents, so Jamie Komoroski is no exception,” the sheriff’s rep told The Post on Monday.


Bride and groom Samantha and Aric Hutchinson on their wedding day.
Bride Samantha Hutchinson was killed and groom Aric Hutchinson severely injured on their wedding night.
GoFundMe/Folly Beach Police/MEGA

The sheriff and her office “made necessary accommodations” to aid Komoroski — including helping her “be with [her] loved ones” in her own time of “crisis,” the representative said.

“Sheriff has no control over bond and has a right to personal opinions,” the rep said.

The jailhouse recordings obtained by the Post and Courier showed that Komoroski blabbed about the sheriff’s intervention despite her dad telling her not to — and while she whined about conditions in the lockup.

As she sobbed “Why me?” in calls to her family, she also complained about a lack of writing supplies and the grim food on offer, even though it included hot dogs, meatballs and bread rather than cold slop. She also complained about the remote control and lack of exercise mats.


Aric Hutchinson in hospital bed after the crash that killed his new wife, Samantha.
Aric Hutchinson, 36, was widowed on his wedding night thanks to an alleged drunken driver.
GoFundMe

She was making similar complaints to her boyfriend in a May 8 call when she also talked about how “the head person of Charleston County” had come to see her and thought she should be home, the report noted.

In a separate call, Komoroski asked her dad how he knew Graziano, and he told her that the sheriff “had a relationship” with one of Komoroski’s lawyers, Christopher Gramiccioni, who is working for them alongside his wife, Deborah Gramiccioni, the paper noted.

When the suspect recalled in another call three days later that she had spoken to “Kirsten,” her dad corrected her: “Sheriff Graziano.

“She’s a very, very nice lady,” the dad added.

In other calls, the suspect banged her head against walls and wailed about how her “whole life is going to be over,” the report said.

“Oh my God. I just can’t believe this happened to me. Why me? I’m going to be here for years and years and years and years,” she reportedly said in one tearful conversation.

“I’m just so confused, like, why this would happen to me,” Komoroski said.


Scenes from the crash.
“Why me?” sobbed the driver, who was reportedly speeding while drunk.
Folly Beach Police Department

The sheriff’s office said Komoroski’s family reached out “because they were concerned about her access to medication, and our staff had already voiced concerns over Komoroski’s mental health. 

“We take our jail residents’ mental health very seriously, and we believe that we made necessary accommodations to ensure she did not harm herself,” Graziano’s rep said.

As for the in-person visits, the rep said: “In times of crisis, all people deserve the right to be with their loved ones, and it is unfortunate and tragic when circumstances prevent that.”

Despite the dad’s claim of “a relationship,” Graziano’s representative stressed that the “Sheriff has no personal relationship with Komoroski’s attorney, only professional.

“When there are tragic events in the community, it is common for [the] Sheriff to contact family members, as she feels it is a part of her job as a public servant,” the rep said.


Groom Aric Hutchinson is suing Komoroski.
Groom Aric Hutchinson is suing Komoroski.
WYFF

Komoroski remains in custody after being denied bail. The felony DUI charge against her carries a maximum 15-year penalty, and she faces up to 10 years on the vehicular homicide charge, the local outlet noted.

She is also being sued by Aric Hutchinson.

“I didn’t mean it to happen,” she said in one of her jailhouse calls of the “freak accident,” which occurred when she was allegedly going about 65 mph in a 25-mph speed zone.

“I just feel like a terrible person, like, I didn’t mean for any of that to happen.”

Komoroski’s husband-and-wife lawyers called the recordings “the statements of a distraught young woman. 

“She was seeking guidance and support from her family, as many daughters do,” they told the Post and Courier.