By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-26 02:31:43 | Updated at 2024-11-26 04:43:41
2 hours ago
An Illinois Democratic lawmaker drunkenly slurred her way through an arrest in which she mocked the alleged penis size of a police officer in newly released bodycam footage.
Samantha Steele, 45, of Evanston, who represents District 2 - which includes much of the North Side of Chicago and the northern suburbs area - was charged with one misdemeanor count of driving under the influence of alcohol on November 10.
In the bodycam video, Steele is belligerent and consistently attempts to use her position to bully Windy City police officers, who at one point found an open bottle of wine in a plastic back on the floor of her car.
'I'm an elected official. I don't want any of this… I'll wait for [my attorney to arrive],' she says.
One of the responding officers alleges that she's 'hit several cars' and Steele answers by holding up two fingers and saying: 'Two.'
Eventually, a sergeant gets to the scene and warns her: 'If you don't exit the vehicle, I'm gonna help you to exit and you don't want that.'
'You don't want that,' Steele snaps back, sarcastically, before repeating that she's 'an elected official.'
Steele, who twice used what the officers described as 'small wrists' to slip out of handcuffs, then demands: 'I don't wanna be on the video.'
An Illinois Democratic lawmaker drunkenly slurred her way through an arrest in which she mocked the alleged penis size of a police officer in newly released bodycam footage
Samantha Steele, 45, of Evanston, who represents District 2 - which includes much of the North Side of Chicago and the northern suburbs area - was charged with one misdemeanor count of driving under the influence of alcohol on November 10
'You are on the video,' answers one officer.
'I'm waiting for my attorney,' she repeats.
That attorney turned out to be Democratic Cook County Commissioner Scott Britton, who told the Chicago Sun-Timesd afterward that he was not a defense attorney and was not representing Steele in this case.
Britton can still be heard advising Steele when he gets on the seen, imploring her: 'Don't say anything. Don't say anything.'
Steele flip-flops throughout the video between asking to be sent an ambulance and not being sent an ambulance before an EMS eventually brought her to a nearby hospital.
It was at the hospital - and not caught on video - where she repeatedly asked the officer, 'Is your penis that small?'
Police responded to the scene of a two-car crash with 'extensive damage' in the 5000 block of North Ashland, in Ravenswood, at 8.49pm Sunday evening, where Steele admitted that she drove into another vehicle.
'I observed her eyes were bloodshot and glassy,' an officer wrote in the report. 'I also detected a strong odor of alcoholic beverage coming from her breathe as she spoke,' Chicago Sun Times reported.
In the bodycam video, Steele is belligerent and consistently attempts to use her position to bully Windy City police officers, who at one point found an open bottle of wine in a plastic back on the floor of her car
The first-term Cook County elected official refused to perform field sobriety tests or tell officers how much alcohol she consumed before getting behind the wheel.
'I want my lawyer, and I am not talking to you,' Steele responded to officers after being asked how much she had to drink, the Chicago Sun Times reported.
She was then handcuffed, arrested and taken to the hospital for treatment after complaining of pain inflicted from head injuries.
When at the hospital, she mocked the arresting officer by continuously asking him if his 'penis is that small'.
Steele was first elected to the powerful Cook County Board of Review - which has power to decide on property tax appeals - in 2022, after working on the team of Fritz Kaegi, the Cook County Assessor.
She took to office after defeating Michael Cabonargi, the previous holder of the position, in the Democratic primary two years ago.
But this isn't the first time the Democratic lawmaker has been the subject of controversy and complaints.
Franke Calabrese, a former aide of Steele's, filed a whistleblower lawsuit against her in July of this year, along with the county property-tax appeal agency and her top aide.
Steele, who twice used what the officers described as 'small wrists' to slip out of handcuffs, then demands: 'I don't wanna be on the video'
Steele was first elected to the powerful Cook County Board of Review - which has power to decide on property tax appeals - in 2022, after working on the team of Fritz Kaegi, the Cook County Assessor
Calabrese, who worked under Steele as an appeals analyst and communications director, was fired this past May.
In the July lawsuit, Calabrese alleged that Steele asked him to draft and distribute a memo to county elected officials about the football team's property tax appeal, WBEZ Chicago reported.
He also claimed that Steele leaked the board's decision about the valuation of the racetrack property before the final vote was taken, Chicago Tribune reported.
But he said that he was punished for contacting the board's top lawyer this past February to seek advice on the matter and was fired in May.
The findings of the investigation did not carry a penalty, but a recommendation for Steele to take ethics training for violating the board's ethics policy and the state's property tax code for leaking the confidential information as well as exhibiting bias against the team in comments to the media.
Steele's next appearance in court is scheduled for December 27.
