An elected official in Chicago was arrested Sunday after crashing her car while drunk and reportedly questioning a police officer over the size of his penis.
Samantha Steele, a 45-year-old Commissioner of the Cook County Board of Review, was arrested around 8:50 p.m. in the 5000 block of North Ashland Avenue, near the Winnemac and Wolcott Gardens neighborhoods of Chicago, police confirmed to Newsweek.
She was charged with a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence of alcohol.
The Democrat told police that she crashed her Dodge Charger into a parked Subaru Forester while making a wide right turn, according to a report obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.
An open bottle of red wine was found on her passenger side floor when police arrived. Steele was found lying on the sidewalk.
"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 breath as she spoke."
According to police, the commissioner allegedly refused to perform field sobriety tests when requested. When officers asked her how much she had to drink, Steele reportedly responded, "I want my lawyer, and I am not talking to you."
However, Steele reportedly taunted the officer who handcuffed her about his manhood, "repeatedly" asking him, "Is your penis that small?"
Steele complained of head pain during her arrest and was taken to a hospital, police said.
She allegedly later called fellow elected official Scott Britton, a Cook County Board of Commissioners member, to serve as her defense lawyer despite him not practicing criminal law. Britton referred Steele to another attorney, police said.
Steele is due in court on December 27.
Newsweek has contacted Steele and the Cook County Board of Review for comment.
Steele has not addressed her arrest on social media.
On Wednesday, she made a Facebook post about an upcoming Property Tax Appeal Workshop she will attend in Wheeling Township.
Steele is a "certified Level III Assessor/Appraiser" with over 15 years of experience in the field of property valuation, according to her county profile.
First elected to the Second District of the Cook County Board of Review in 2022, her position focuses on property tax appeals and other tax-related duties.
"Commissioner Steele has worked with assessors throughout the United States to establish best practices for residential and commercial property tax assessments and appeal analyses, as well as for business personal property in a variety of assignments," her profile reads.
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