Democratic official drunkenly slurs, flaunts government position during DUI arrest

Newly-released bodycam footage shows the arrest of a Democratic official who made inappropriate comments about a male police officer while being arrested for a DUI.

Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Samantha Steele, 45, was arrested on Nov. 10 and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. At the time, she was found lying on the ground near two damaged parked vehicles.

According to a police report obtained by FOX 32 Chicago, the visibly-drunk Steele admitted to striking a car. Officers also observed a bottle of opened red wine on the floor of her car.

"I observed her eyes were bloodshot and glassy," an officer wrote in the report. "I also detected a strong odor of [an] alcoholic beverage coming from her breath as she spoke."

The police report said that the intoxicated official also made crude comments about a male officer by repeatedly asking him, "Is your penis that small?" during her arrest. The censored bodycam footage did not show this exchange.

The Chicago Police Department (CPD) footage, which was obtained by FOX 32, begins with an officer meeting Steele shortly after the accident and asking for her license and registration, which she avoids sharing.

Eventually, multiple officers ask Steele to get out of her car, which she refuses to do. The footage also shows Steele appearing to flaunt her status as a government official.

"If you don't exit the vehicle, I'm going to help you to exit," a cop is heard saying. "And you don't want that."

"You don't want that," Steele replied. "I'm an elected official."

Steele continued a back-and-forth with the officers and dialed her attorney. At another point, Steele told an officer, "I'm an elected official, I don't want any of this."

The Cook County official was on the phone with her lawyer when the officer asked her to take a sobriety test for the final time.

"Now, tell your attorney, OK, since he's on the phone, are you going to do field sobriety tests or no?" the officer asked.

"No," Steele replied, causing the police to handcuff her against her will.

"I asked her to do [a] field sobriety test, and she refused," an officer is heard saying in the footage. "And she smells like alcohol. She's been drinking… You've been recorded all this time."