CCSO releases Jamie Komoroski’s jailhouse calls after court order
CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – The Charleston County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) released Friday jail a series of video and audio recordings involving Jamie Lee Komoroski, the woman accused of hitting and killing a new bride during a DUI crash back in April, after being ordered by a court to deliver the documents to media outlets.
The calls include conversations from inside the Al Cannon Detention Center that Komoroski made to friends and family after being booked on charges of reckless homicide resulting in death and three counts of felony DUI.
During one of the first calls Komoroski made from jail, she sounds distraught, screaming and hyperventilating on the phone with her father, Charles Komoroski. Komorski apologizes profusely that her parents had to drive down from New Jersey and that this happened to her, insisting she is not a bad person. Her father tells her not to apologize, that it was an accident.
He also tells her that she is going to need to toughen up while in jail, and that she is probably going to be in there for a long time. He promises to get her the best lawyer in South Carolina and to take care of her cats.
Komoroski’s father makes clear to her that she needs to get herself together and find out relevant information like how many calls she gets, how long the calls last, and how to set up video calls, because no in-person visits have been allowed at the detention center since the COVID-19 pandemic.
In another conversation with a person named Evan Tatro, presumed to be Komoroski’s boyfriend, she indicated that a sheriff’s office official arranged for her to meet in person with her parents at the jail. A privilege not normally extended to inmates.
“My dad said for you to not to talk anyone about this … the deputy sheriff, the head person of Charleston County, I met with her today and she’s trying to like help me out. She’s like I don’t want you in here, you should be with your family … so that’s really good,” Komoroski said in the call to Tatro.
As time goes on, Komoroski appears to adapt to life in jail. In more recent video calls with her father, she discusses her relationship with her “roommate” and how they pass the time by making lists of what they eat and rating jail meals.
Komoroski also tells her father she has made a list of things she wants to do when she gets out, like hike the Appalachian Trail.
She says that while the food is bad, they are treating her decently at the jail.
CCSO denied any claims of preferential treatment and released the following statement along with Komoroski’s calls:
“Our staff, whether a detention deputy or the sheriff, will always work to ensure our jail residents are properly and appropriately cared for while they’re in our facility. This includes taking steps to ensure they do not harm themselves. Jamie Lee Komoroski is no exception. When family members reach out in concern for the well-being of their loved one, regardless of the charges against them, we do everything within our power to ensure they are safe. It is not unusual for accommodations to be made beyond our normal video visitation for family members, as long as there is an appropriate level of staffing to make it happen.
Sheriff Graziano is in the agency’s detention centers often, and it is also not unusual for her to visit jail residents. Komoroski is not an exception, and the sheriff met with her one time and had brief in-person contact with her a second time to introduce her to CCSO Mental Health Director William Malcolm, whose responsibility involves visiting Detention Center residents to ensure various needs are met. The sheriff does not have a special relationship with Komoroski’s attorney; it is a professional relationship. What has been surmised by some from the Komoroskis’ video calls is not accurate in regard to any sort of special treatment. Some may think the situation is special, but it is not.”
