When she was arrested earlier this month for driving under the influence after crashing her car in Uptown, Cook County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Samantha Steele repeatedly told police officers that she was an elected official. , made crude comments about one of the arresting officers and refused to be arrested. Public records released to the Tribune program in cooperation with a police officer’s request.
Steele, 45, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence on Nov. 10 near Ashland Avenue and Winnemack Avenue just before 9 p.m. A police report on the incident and video footage from the scene from body cameras worn by four Chicago Police Department officers provide the most graphic details yet of the arrest. The Tribune obtained the report and footage from Chicago police in response to a public records request.
Mr. Steele is one of three members of the Cook County Board of Review, which plays an important role in the world of property taxes because it decides on property tax appeals.
According to the arrest report, officers saw two cars collide near the intersection. An officer reported that Steele was lying on the sidewalk near the accident scene and that Steele said he had been hit by another car. At the time, officers wrote in a report that Steele’s “eyes were bloodshot and glassy.” I also could smell the strong odor of alcoholic beverages coming from her breath as she spoke. ”
The earliest body-worn camera footage showed Steele sitting in the front seat of the car, a Honda Accord with a badly damaged front bumper. Officers repeatedly asked Steele to show his driver’s license and insurance card, but Steele refused.
At one point during the police interrogation, Steele handed the officer his cell phone and said, “This is my attorney,” the video shows. Cook County Commissioner Scott Britton confirmed to the Tribune that he was acting as her attorney that night, but declined to comment further. Britton, who specializes in insurance defense and commercial litigation, said he would no longer represent Steele in drunk driving cases.
In the body camera footage, Britton can be heard saying over the speakerphone, “Hang up, Samantha, tell them I’m on my way.”
Steele made numerous phone calls during the interaction with police as Britton drove from several miles away to pick him up at the scene. Some audio from the encounter has been edited.
“I need to wait for him,” Steele told the officer. “It’s okay, I’ll wait for him.”
“Okay, ma’am. We don’t need to complicate things any further. This is just an accident. All you need to do is show us your driver’s license,” the officer said. “Why don’t you put him in handcuffs and arrest him?”
“no.”
“Because at the moment you refuse to offer me anything—”
“Yes,” Steele said.
“You know that too, right?”
“Yes. I’m an elected official.”
“What are you?”
“I don’t want anything like this,” she said. “I’ll wait for him.”
“You were involved in an accident. You collided with several cars,” the police officer replied.
“Two,” she said. “Someone pulled it out in front of me.”
Steele eventually surrendered his license, but had trouble opening the dashboard. She told officers the white Accord she was driving belonged to a friend.
She also refused a request to get out of the car and take a field sobriety test.
“Ma’am, if you don’t get out of the car, I’ll help you get out of the car, but I don’t think you want that,” one of the officers said.
“I wouldn’t want that. I’m an elected official,” she replied.
“I actually do, what office were you elected to?”
“Cook County”
“Cook County, you’re elected to what office?” What’s your name? “
She held out her hand and said, “I’m Sam.”
“Sam, who?”
Britton again advised Steele on the phone to get out of the car. When she again refused to take a field sobriety test, she was handcuffed and placed in the back seat of a police car. She then agreed to take a field sobriety test, during which she appeared to “sway from front to back during the interview,” the arrest report states.
She was hesitant to comment on whether she had hit her head in the collision and whether she needed medical attention. However, an ambulance had already arrived and she was eventually taken to Wythe Hospital.
Body camera footage from two officers inspecting the car showed an open but closed wine bottle in the passenger footwell.
“That’s a good thing, too. Cabernet Sauvignon,” one of the officers said. They described it as “half empty”.
The police officer who accompanied Steele to the hospital turned off his body-worn camera. He began observing her for 20 minutes at 9:30 p.m., reading her a warning that her license could be suspended if she refused a breathalyzer or gassed above .08. She wrote that she “repeatedly said, ‘Is this what your penis looks like?'” Small. ‘Steele refused all tests after the warning was read,’ the arrest report stated.
Steele has not yet commented on the arrest and did not respond to a request for comment Saturday. Her next court date is set for Dec. 27.
Steele, a Democrat who has promised to bring data-driven reforms to the three-member board, previously served as Indiana’s evaluation director. She was elected to represent the northern part of the county in 2022 and has since been at odds with two other colleagues on the board.
Last month, she received a light sanction from the county auditor’s office for leaking details of a property tax appeal regarding the future site of Bears Stadium in Arlington Heights. She was also sued by a former employee who claimed she was fired for refusing to release certain information related to the same appeal. That employee, Frank Calabrese, received the same footage of Steele’s arrest and shared it with media outlets on Friday.
Commissioner Sean Morrison, the only Republican on the Cook County Board of Commissioners, called on Steele to resign and reiterated that demand on social media Saturday.
“She still shows no responsibility, no remorse, and has not apologized to the officers she so severely scolded and abused,” he wrote to X. “This is a glimpse of arrogance and contempt for the rule of law, and most importantly, for police officers!” This contempt is unbelievable for an elected official. ”
