Cook County politician says ‘I’m an elected official’ during arrest

Cook County politician says ‘I’m an elected official’ during arrest

During her arrest earlier this month for driving under the influence of alcohol after a car crash in Uptown, Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Samantha Steele repeatedly told the officers that she was an elected official, made rude comments about one of the officers who arrested him and refused to cooperate with the officers’ requests, public documents published on the Tribune show.

Steele, 45, was arrested for drunk driving just before 9 p.m. on Nov. 10 near Ashland and Winnemac avenues. A police report on the incident along with video footage of the scene from body cameras worn by four Chicago Police officers provide the most striking details yet of the arrest. The Tribune obtained the report and footage from Chicago police in response to its public records request.

Steele is one of three members of the Cook County Board of Review, which plays an important role in the property tax world by ruling on property tax appeals.

According to the arrest report, officers saw two wrecked cars near the intersection. A police officer reported that Steele was lying on the sidewalk near the accident and that Steele told him she had hit another car. At that point, the officer wrote in the report that Steele “had bloodshot and glassy eyes.” I also detected a strong odor of alcoholic beverage coming from her breath as she spoke.

Initial body-worn camera footage shows Steele in the front seat of the car she was driving, a Honda Accord, whose front bumper was badly damaged. Officers repeatedly asked Steele to show them her driver’s license and proof of insurance, which she refused to provide.

At one point, while being questioned by police, Steele handed the officer her phone and said, “This is my lawyer,” according to the footage. Cook County Commissioner Scott Britton confirmed to the Tribune that he was acting as an attorney that night, but he declined to comment further. Britton specializes in insurance defense and commercial litigation and said he would not represent Steele in the DUI case.

In the body camera footage, Britton could be heard on a speaker saying, “Hang up, Samantha, tell them I’m coming.” »

Steele called Britton several times during his interactions with police as he drove several miles away to meet her at the scene. Some audio of the meetings is redacted.

“I have to wait for him,” Steele told the officer. “It’s okay, I’ll wait for it.”

“Okay, ma’am. You don’t need to make things complicated, it’s just an accident, I just need to see your driver’s license,” the officer said. “Would you like me to handcuff you and I arrest you?

“No.”

“Because at this point, you refuse to give me anything-”

“I am,” Steele said.

“You are, you realize that, don’t you?”

“Yes. I am a chosen one.”

“What are you?”

“I don’t want any of that,” she said. “I’ll wait for him.”

“You were involved in an accident, you hit several cars,” the police officer replied.

“Two,” she said. “Because someone backed out in front of me.”

Steele eventually surrendered his license but had difficulty opening the dashboard; she told police that the white Accord she was driving belonged to a friend.

She also denied requests to get out of the car and take a field sobriety test.

“Ma’am, if you don’t get out of the vehicle, I’m going to help you get out and you don’t want that,” a police officer said.

“You don’t want that.” I am an elected official,” she replied.

“Actually, I do, elected to what? »

“Cook County.”

“Cook County, you are elected, to what position?” What is your name?”

She held out her hand, “My name is Sam.”

“Sam who?”

Britton, on the phone, again advised Steele to get out of the car. When she again refused to take a field sobriety test, she was handcuffed and placed in the back of a police car. She then agreed to take the field sobriety test, but during it she appeared to be “rocking back and forth during the interview,” the arrest report states.

She wavered in her statements about whether she hit her head in the accident and whether she wanted medical attention. But an ambulance had already arrived and she was eventually transported to Weiss Hospital.

Body camera footage from two officers inspecting the car showed an open but corked bottle of wine in the front passenger side floorboard.

“That’s also a good thing. Cabernet sauvignon,” an officer said. They described it as “half empty”.

The officer who accompanied Steele to the hospital turned off his body-worn camera. He wrote that he began observing her for 20 minutes at 9:30 p.m. and that upon reading a warning that her license could be suspended if she refused a breathalyzer test or blew a .08 or higher, she “repeatedly said, ‘Is your penis small.’ Steele refused all tests after reading the warning,” the arrest report states.

Steele has not yet commented on the arrest and did not respond to a request for comment Saturday. His next court date is set for December 27.

A Democrat who has pledged to bring data-driven reforms to the three-member board, Steele previously served as Indiana’s head of assessment. She was elected to represent most of the north county in 2022 and has since clashed with her two other colleagues on the board.

Last month, she received a light sanction from the county inspector general for disclosing details of a property tax appeal regarding the potential future site of the Bears stadium in Arlington Heights. She was also sued by a former employee who claimed he was fired for refusing to disclose certain information related to that same call. That employee, Frank Calabrese, received the same footage of Steele’s arrest and shared it with the media on Friday.

The lone Republican on the Cook County Board, Commissioner Sean Morrison, called on Steele to resign, a demand he reiterated Saturday on social media.

“Still no accountability, showing no remorse, offering no apology to the police officers she horribly berated and mistreated,” he wrote on of the rule of law and, more importantly, of our police officers! This contempt is unworthy of any elected official.