A Cook County elected official tried to flee the scene of a crash she allegedly caused while driving drunk last month in Andersonville, according to a 911 caller who told a dispatcher she was clearly intoxicated.
Samantha Steele, a Democratic member of the obscure but influential Cook County Board of Review, is facing a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence following the Nov. 11 crash in the 5000 block of North Ashland Avenue.
No one was injured in the collision, but two parked cars were damaged, and Steele’s Honda was left inoperable. Still, she allegedly tried to take off before police arrived at the scene.
“She’s trying to turn her wheels and escape, but her car is messed up. She’s not going anywhere. She’s been talking about she doesn’t want to deal with this,” Dylan Roh told a 911 dispatcher, describing Steele as “drunk” and “messed up.”
In an interview, Roh and his partner Eli Montemayor recalled that they were preparing to put their child to sleep when they heard the crash, ran to their window and realized their car had been struck. Montemayor, who uses they/them pronouns, said they rushed outside and found Steele sitting in her car.
“Immediately, it was really clear to me that she was under the influence of something,” Montemayor said. “Her eyes were kind of like rolling back into her head and … there was a really long delay between her answers to me, like it looked like my words weren’t really landing.”
Montemayor said Steele eventually indicated that she wanted to leave after Montemayor tried to swap insurance information. “She was like, ‘I don’t really want to deal with this. Can I go?’ ” Montemayor recalled.
Dylan Roh (left) and Eli Montemayor assess some of the wreckage left behind after Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Samantha Steele was involved in a crash in the 5000 block of North Ashland.
A short time later, Montemayor and Roh said they separately witnessed Steele turning her car’s steering wheel in what they viewed as attempts to flee. Roh said he saw Steele’s Honda “jerk” forward about 2 feet, but the serious damage to her car likely prevented her from driving away.
Montemayor said they were “genuinely a little bit mind-blown” when they learned Steele holds a public office.
“This is an elected official who very easily could have killed one of the people who could have elected her,” Montemayor said. “She serves constituents who are nearby — like that was insane.”
When police responded to Roh’s call, Steele made sure the officers knew she was a politician.
One officer told her, “Ma’am, if you don’t exit the vehicle. … I’m going to help you to exit, and you don’t want that.”
“You don’t want that! I’m an elected official,” Steele allegedly shot back.
“Elected official of what?” the officer asked.
“Cook County,” Steele told him.
When the officer asked for her name, Steele held out her hand and said, “I’m Sam.”
The cop replied, “Sam who?” But Steele did not give the police her full name at that point.
Despite several requests, Steele would not initially provide officers with her driver’s license or get out of the car.
Sitting in the driver’s seat, she drank from what seemed to be a water bottle and used her cellphone to call the person she described many times as her attorney — Democratic Cook County Commissioner Scott Britton of Glenview. She only gave her driver’s license to police and left the car after Britton advised her over the phone to do so.
Cook County Commissioner Scott R. Britton, seen at a board meeting of the Cook County Forest Preserve at the County Building on Dec. 17, 2019, has said he is not a defense attorney and will not be representing Samantha Steele in her case.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file
After Britton arrived at the scene, Steele said she was not drinking from a half-empty bottle of wine that was found in the car. Britton interjected: “Don’t say anything. Don’t say anything.”
Two days after the arrest, Britton said he was not a defense attorney and would not be representing Steele in her case.
The attorney Steele has hired, John Fotopoulos, declined to comment for this story. Fotopoulos has filed a motion seeking to reinstate Steele’s driver’s license, which was suspended after the crash.
Steele’s initial court appearance is set for Dec. 27.
Meanwhile, Steele continues to serve on a three-member board that has the power to rule on property tax appeals, effectively reducing tax bills. An Evanston resident, she represents the board’s district covering much of Chicago’s North Side and its northern suburbs.
Amid calls for her resignation, she appeared virtually earlier this month at the board’s first public meeting since she was arrested.